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THE 


History  of  Westborough. 


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THE 


History  of  Westborough, 


MASSACHUSETTS. 


^art  I. 
THE    EARLY    HISTORY. 


By  HEMAN   PACKARD   DEFOREST. 


Part  II. 
THE    LATER    HISTORY. 

By   EDWARD   CRAIG   BATES. 


WESTBOROUGH: 

PUBLISHED     BY    THE    TOWN. 

1891. 


Copyright,  1S91, 
By  C.  S.  Henry. 


John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambridge. 


GENERAL    PREFACE. 


nPHE  warrant  for  the  town  meeting  of  March  7, 
1887,  had  an  article,  "  To  see  if  the  town  will 
print  in  book  form  the  history  of  the  town  as 
gathered  by  Rev.  H.  P.  DeForest  and  others,  or 
act  anything  in  relation  to  the  same." 

At  an  adjourned  meeting,  held  March  21,  the 
town  voted,  "  That  the  moderator  appoint  a  com- 
mittee of  three  to  take  the  matter  into  consid- 
eration, and  report,  with  an  estimate  of  the  expense, 
at  a  future  meeting." 

George  B.  Brigham,  George  Forbes,  and  Joshua 
E.  Beeman  were  appointed  as  the  committee.  At 
a  meeting  held  April  27  of  the  same  year  the 
committee  reported  that  Rev.  H,  P.  DeForest 
could  furnish  the  earlier  history,  and  some  one 
here  in  town  the  later,  but  that  they  could  give 
nothing  definite  in  regard  to  the  expense,  as  Mr. 
DeForest  would  leave  the  matter  to  the  town  to 
pay  what  they  thought  best.  The  committee  made 
no  recommendation,  and  no  action  was  taken  at 
this  meeting;  but  at  a  town  meeting  held  Septem- 


IV  PREFACE. 

ber  2  1  the  committee  reported  further,  recommend- 
ing that  the  town  procure  one  thousand  copies, 
and  that  the  sum  of  $800.00  be  appropriated  to 
cover  the  expense  of  printing  and  pubHshing  the 
same. 

The  town  voted  "  that  the  report  be  accepted 
and  its  recommendations  adopted,  and  that  the 
committee  carry  out  its  recommendations,  and  have 
power  to  fill  any  vacancy  in  the  committee."  Mr. 
George  Forbes  having  died,  Mr.  Charles  S.  Henry 
was  chosen  as  a  member  of  the  committee. 

Mr.  DeForest  was  engaged  to  write  the  earlier 
history  of  the  town,  and  Mr.  Edward  C.  Bates  to 
write  the  later  history. 

Judge  William  T.  Forbes  has  written  a  chapter 
on  the  early  land-grants  which  is  of  great  value. 

A  few  biographical  sketches  of  men  who  have 
been  prominent  in  town  affairs  have  been  pre- 
pared, and  several  portraits  are  given,  also  views 
of  a  number  of  our  public  buildings. 

The  pictures  are  most  of  them  the  work  of  the 
Boston  Photogravure  Company,  and  the  engrav- 
ing for  the  wood-cuts  has  been  done  by  Mr.  Al- 
bert E.  Wood,  of  New  York  city,  a  native  of 
this  town. 

As  we  finish  our  book  and  present  it  to  the 
town  we  regret  that  we  must  speak  of  the  death 
of  Mr.  George  B.  Brigham,  the  chairman  of  our 
committee,  to  whose  efforts  the  publication  of  this 
History  is   due.      He  brought  the   subject    before 


PREFACE.  V 

the  town,  labored  faithfully  and  untiringly  to  make 
the  work  thorough  and  accurate,  and  hoped  to  live 
to  see  the  book  published. 

We  submit  our  work  to  the  town,  hoping  that 
it  may  prove  useful  in  preserving  its  records  and 
stimulating  our  people  to  take  a  deeper  interest 
in  them. 

JOSHUA   E.    BEEMAN, 
CHARLES   S.   HENRY, 

Committee. 
Westborough,  March  lo,  1891 


PREFACE    TO    PART    I. 


I  "HE  only  motive  which  has  induced  me  to  give 
-*"  this  sketch  of  the  earlier  history  of  West- 
borough  to  the  public  is  the  conviction  that  the 
material  which  had  been  incidentally  gathered  in 
connection  with  my  work  and  residence  there  ought 
not  to  be  lost.  There  is  that  in  the  history  of  the 
earlier  growth  of  all  our  New  England  towns  which 
is  of  permanent  interest  to  the  historian,  the  ge- 
nealogist, and  the  student  of  social  forces  ;  and  it 
is  desirable  that  every  town  should  embody  in 
some  accessible  form,  for  the  benefit  of  its  own 
people  and  their  descendants,  such  facts  of  its  early 
struggles  and  development  as  may  be  rescued 
from  oblivion.  Faulty  as  I  know  this  sketch  to  be, 
it  may  serve  such  a  purpose.  The  manner  of  its 
origin  is  as  follows.  In  1874  the  Congregational 
church,  of  which  I  happened  at  that  time  to  be 
pastor,   celebrated    the    one   hundred   and    fiftieth 


Viii  PREFACE. 

anniversary  of  its  organization.  It  fell  to  me  to 
write  the  story  of  that  period.  In  1876,  when  all 
the  towns  kept  the  centennial  of  Independence,  I 
was  requested  to  deliver  the  historical  oration  on 
the  Fourth  of  July.  Not  long  afterward  the  town 
voted  a  request  that  the  material  thus  gathered 
might  be  prepared,  with  such  other  as  I  might  be 
able  to  collect,  for  publication,  and  appomted  a 
committee  to  that  end.  Busied  with  the  care  of  a 
large  parish,  my  time  for  such  work  was  very  lim- 
ited ;  and  it  progressed  very  slowly  until  1 880,  when 
I  was  called  away  from  the  town,  and  the  material 
was  consigned  to  a  drawer,  where  it  remained  un- 
touched for  some  eight  years.  But  at  that  time  a 
few  citizens  of  Westborough  who  were  especially 
interested  in  saving  its  history  from  oblivion,  pro- 
cured the  passage  of  a  vote  in  town  meeting  calling 
for  the  history,  and  appointing  a  new  committee  to 
attend  to  the  matter.  At  their  urgent  request,  sec- 
onded by  my  own  feeling  as  to  the  recklessness  of 
consigning  any  historical  material  to  destruction,  I 
consented  to  undertake  the  difficult  task  of  resus- 
citating my  buried  work,  and  finishing,  at  a  distance 
from  the  locality,  and  with  too  much  remoteness  from 
the  fresh  memory  of  previous  work,  the  task  which  I 


PREFACE.  IX 

had  been  obliged  to  drop.  It  has  been  entirely  re- 
written, some  of  it  more  than  once.  It  represents, 
as  all  historical  work  must  do,  the  study  of  many 
weeks  and  months,  scattered  through  years  which 
have  been  crowded  with  other  duties.  I  have 
tried  to  write  a  continuous  narrative,  believing  it 
more  likely  to  be  read  than  if  divided,  in  the 
manner  of  many  local  histories,  into  disconnected 
sections. 

I  am  indebted  to  many  helpers  for  assistance 
rendered,  at  many  times  and  in  various  ways,  since 
the  inception  of  the  work.  I  have  consulted  the 
local  histories  of  the  vicinity,  especially  Hudson's 
Marlborough,  Peter  Whitney's  Worcester  County, 
and  Joseph  Allen's  Northborough,  and  have  given 
credit  where  these  have  been  quoted.  To  the  late 
E.  M.  Phillips  I  am  under  many  an  obligation  for 
reminiscence  and  story  of  the  days  of  his  boyhood. 
To  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  M.  Griggs,  whose  interest 
in  the  town  and  its  history  was  always  keen,  and 
whose  knowledge  of  facts  and  places  was  excep- 
tional, I  owe  more  than  to  any  one  else  in  the 
earlier  days  of  this  study  Judge  W.  T.  Forbes  and 
Mrs.  Forbes  have  rendered  great  service  in  the 
past  year,  and  Messrs.  J.  A.  Fayerweather  and  F.  W. 


X  PREFACE. 

Forbes  have  assisted  much  at  various  times.  And 
finally,  to  the  Committee  of  Publication,  Messrs. 
Brigham,  Beeman,  and  Henry,  and  my  coadjutor, 
Mr.  E.  C.  Bates,  I  owe  many  courtesies  and  helps. 
Of  the  town  itself  I  have  only  the  happiest  memo- 
ries, and  it  has  been  pleasant  to  recall  them  in  this 
gathering  up  of  the  threads  of  many  years'  work. 

H.  P.  De  forest. 
Detroit,  Mich., 

November,  1889. 


TABLE    OF    CONTENTS. 


Page 

Introduction iii 

^art    I. 

Preface  to  Part   I v 

CHAPTER  I. 

Topography.  —  Indian    History    and    Legend.  —  First 

White  Settlers i 

CHAPTER  II. 

Earliest  Landholders  within  the  Limits  of  the  Pres- 
ent Town.  —  "King"  Philip's  War 15 

CHAPTER  III. 

Preliminary  Movements  toward  a  New  Town.  —  Indian 

Troubles  during  "  Queen  Anne's  War  " 29 

CHAPTER  IV. 
Incorporation,  and  Beginnings  of  Town  Life  ....      42 

CHAPTER  V. 

How   THEY  secured  A   MINISTER 59 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Organization  of  a   Church,  and  Ordination  of  the 

First  Settled  Minister ^^ 


xii  TABLE   OF   CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Page 

Records.  —  Church  Affairs.  —  Schools.  —  Earthquake. 

—  Growth  of  the  Town 87 

CHAPTER   VIII. 

The  New  County.  —  Beginnings  of  Division.  —  Church 

Music 103 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Church  Order.  —  Phases  of  Church  Life.  —  The  Great 

Awakening.  —  An  Anniversary  Sermon 118 

CHAPTER  X. 
The  First  Precinct 131. 

CHAPTER  XI. 

The  French  and  Indian  War.  —  Beginnings  of  the  Re- 
volution. —  Church  Music  again 146 

CHAPTER   XII. 
In  the  Revolutionary  War 158 

CHAPTER  XHI. 

Contemporary  Matters  of  Local  Interest.  —  Discus- 
sion OF  Church  Government.  —  Death  of  Mr.  Park- 
man  176 

CHAPTER   XIV. 

From  the  Death  of  Mr.  Parkman  to  the  End  of  the 

Eighteenth  Century    190 


TABLE   OF  CONTENTS.  Xlll 


CHAPTER  XV. 

Page 

Items  of  Progress.  —  Ecclesiastical  Trials.  —  The  Be- 
ginning OF  Modern  Improvements 208 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

Business  Development.  —  The  Diffusion  of  Intelligence    222 

CHAPTER  XVII. 

Later  Ecclesiastical  History 231 


^att    II. 

Preface  to  Part  II 244 

CHAPTER   I. 

The  Civil  War.— Action  of  the  Town. —  In  the  Field. 

—  Soldiers'  Sewing  Society 245 

CHAPTER   II. 

Records  of  Soldiers  in  the  Civil  War 274 

CHAPTER   III. 

The  Soldiers'  Monument.  —  Fires  and  New  Buildings. — 

Celebrations 328 

CHAPTER   IV. 

Growth  of  the  Town.  —  Population.  —  Agriculture  and 

Manufactures.  —  Wealth 344 


XIV  TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  V. 

Pagb 

Public  Schools.  —  Willow  Park  Seminary.  —  Public  Li- 
brary. —  Poor-Farm.  —  Fire  Department     ....    372 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Newspapers.  —  Post-Office.  —  Banks.  —  District  Court. 

—  Lyman  School.  —  Insane  Hospital 391 

CHAPTER  Vn. 
Prominent  Societies 405 

CHAPTER  Vni. 

Waterworks.  —  Phenomena.  —  New  Buildings.  —  Other 

Improvements 415 


I.    Biographical  Sketches 431 

II.    Land  Grants 454 

III.  Town  Officers 465 

IV.  Representatives  to  General  Court 470 

V.    Votes  for  Governor 472 

VI.    Rev.   Ebenezer   Parkman's  History  of  Westbor- 

OUGH 479 

Index ^ 483 


LIST     OF     ILLUSTRATIONS. 


The  Square Frontispiece 

Insane  Hospital,  across  Lake  Chauncy i8 

The  Whitney  Place 36 

Ebenezer  Parkman 66 

Breck  Parkman 106 

East  Main  Street 134 

Eli  Whitney 192 

Old  Arcade 208 

Charles  Parkman 218 

Otis  Brigham 226 

Unitarian  Church 234 

Congregational  Church 238 

Westborough,  from  Whitney  Hill 245 

Town  Hall  and  Baptist  Church 250 

Soldiers'  Monument      .    .     .• 274 

Post-Office  Block 332 

Rev.  Heman  P.  Deforest 340 

Elmer  Brigham 352 

George  B.  Brigham 360 

William  R.  Gould 368 

The  High-School  Building 376 

William  Curtis 380 

Christopher  Whitney 388 

John  A.  Fayerweather 396 

Dr.  N.  Emmons  Paine 402 

Residence  of  John  A.  Fayerweather 412 


xvi  LIST   OF   ILLUSTRATIONS. 

Page 

Residence  of  Mrs.  H.  K.  Taft 41S 

St.  Luke's  Church  and  Rectory 424 

The  Whitney  House 426 

Charles  B.  Parkman 432 

Lyman  Belknap 438 

Horace  Maynard 442 

Henry  K.  Taft 450 

Daniel  F.  Newton .  466 


W&p^  anti   pian^. 


Map  of  Westborough i 

Floor-Plan  of  the  First  Meeting-House 55 

Floor-Plan  of  the  Second  Meeting-House 138 

The  Original  Marlborough,  and  the  New  Towns  "  set 

off  "  from  it 456 

The   Original    Chauncy,  and   some   of  the  Territory 

afterward  Annexed 457 

Map  of  Westborough  in  1766 463 


THE  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


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EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


CHAPTER    I. 

To  1660. 


TOPOGRAPHY.  —  INDIAN    HISTORY    AND    LEGEND.  —  FIRST 
WHITE   SETTLERS. 

THE  traveller  from  Boston  toward  Worcester  by  the 
Albany  Railroad,  after  passing  Cochituate  Lake  and 
Farm  Pond,  strikes  the  valley  of  the  Sudbury  River  near 
Ashland,  and  following  it  for  some  eight  miles  beyond  that 
village,  through  an  uninteresting  region  broken  by  two 
small  manufacturing  stations  and  ending  in  a  long  and 
lonely  stretch  of  wood  and  swimp,  comes  suddenly  upon 
the  central  square  of  a  busy  town,  with  its  brick  blocks 
and  tree-lined  streets,  its  lumber-yards  and  factories,  with 
church  spires  rising  beyond  the  square.  It  is  a  good 
place  to  stop,  —  and  to  live,  if  one  is  looking  for  a  coun- 
try home,  with  some  charming  scenery,  and  not  too  far 
from  the  whirl  of  life;  with  school,  church,  and  library 
at  hand,  and  easy  communication  with  the  appliances 
of  civilization.  The  village  of  Westborough,  which  is  in 
the  centre  of  the  town,  is  only  ten  miles  due  east  from 
Worcester,  and  twenty-nine  west-southwest  from  Boston, 
as  the  bird  flies.  It  lies  in  the  southern  portion  of  a 
plain,  which  traverses  the   area  of  the  town  from  north- 


2  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

west  to  southeast,  terminating  in  the  cedar  swamp  through 
which  the  train  passes.  It  belongs  to-day  in  the  highest 
class  of  New  England  villages ;  its  population  is  largely 
descended  from  the  native  stock,  —  industrious,  enterpris- 
ing, and  law-abiding;  believing  loyally  in  New-England 
institutions,  and  not  yet  emancipated  from  the  sway  of 
conscience. 

The  town,  extending  from  two  to  three  miles  about  the 
village  in  all  directions,  has  numerous  good  and  well-kept 
farms,  with  thrifty-looking  buildings,  and  a  delightful 
mingling  of  woodland,  meadow,  pond,  and  hill,  which  has 
endless  charms  for  the  lover  of  Nature.  An  irregular  range 
of  low  green  hills  rises  to  the  south  and  west,  and  another 
to  the  northeast.  One  never  tires  of  the  views  they  give 
in  payment  for  an  easy  climb ;  and  walks  and  drives  of 
picturesque  beauty  are  numberless.  From  the  highest 
point  of  these  hills  one  gets  an  inspiring  view  of  Wachu- 
sett,  twenty  miles  away,  and  of  a  line  of  sentinels  that 
guard  the  northwestern  horizon,  comprising  Monadnock, 
Watatic,  and  the  Temple  Hills.  There  are  long  reaches  of 
meadow,  lying  between  wood  and  knoll,  and  terminating, 
perhaps,  in  a  far-off  glimpse  of  a  church  spire  relieved 
against  the  blue  background  of  a  hill.  There  are  pictu- 
resque confusions  of  hill  and  dale, —  now  shutting  one  into 
a  sheltered  nook;  now,  after  a  steep  climb  up  a  rocky 
•slope,  confronting  him  with  a  sweep  of  landscape  that 
reaches  to  New  Hampshire.  There  are  walks  through 
the  woods,  the  path  strewn  with  soft  pine-needles  or  rich 
brown  oak-leaves.  Here  the  road  winds  unexpectedly 
round  a  sharp  curve,  and  runs  down  the  hill  to  a  rude 
bridge  by  an  old  mill ;  again,  as  it  climbs  a  gentle  slope, 
the  well-tilled  fields  sweep  away  toward  the  town,  with 
fringes  of  maple  on  the  farther  verge,  which  in  October 


TOPOGRAPHY.  3 

burn  with  a  hectic  flush  against  the  greens  and  browns 
of  the  meadow. 

The  water  area  of  the  town  is  comparatively  small. 
There  are  no  large  streams,  but  brooks  are  numerous,  and 
those  which  are  fed  from  the  western  slopes  of  the  hills 
gather  themselves  in  the  northerly  meadows  into  the  Assa- 
bet  River ;  while  those  that  rise  on  the  eastern  slopes,  col- 
lecting in  Cedar  Swamp,  form  the  Sudbury.  These  two 
streams,  receiving  their  names  before  they  leave  the  town 
area,  separate  widely,  then  flow  together,  and  uniting 
in  the  Concord,  flow  to  the  Merrimac,  and  so  to  the  sea. 
But  if  there  are  no  rivers,  there  are  ponds,  of  which 
Chauncy  is  king,  and  which  unfolds  its  full  beauty  only 
when  seen  from  the  slopes  of  the  Hospital  grounds,  with 
the  village  spires  in  the  distance,  relieved  against  the  back- 
ground of  the  southern  hills.  Hidden  darkly  at  the  foot 
of  the  wooded  hills  to  the  west,  its  seclusion  only  just 
now  broken  in  upon  by  a  railroad  cutting,  lies  Hocco- 
mocco,  whose  true  and  better  name  is  Hobomoc.  Down 
in  the  recesses  of  Cedar  Swamp  there  lies  another  pond, 
as  one  may  find  in  the  winter  if  he  will  thread  the  mazes 
of  the  frozen  forest.  And  high  up  on  the  southern  hill- 
sides is  still  another,  now  enlarged  by  artificial  dredging 
and  embankment,  which  supplies  the  water  for  the  village, 
and  has  natural  "  head  "  enough  to  drench  the  village 
spires  through  a  well-directed  hose. 

Westborough  is  one  of  the  "  borough  towns."  That 
means,  in  local  parlance,  that  it  is  a  part  of  the  area — now 
including  also  Marlborough,  Northborough,  Southborough, 
and  a  part  of  Hudson  —  which,  about  the  time  that  Charles 
n.  was  proclaimed  king  of  England,  was  incorporated  as 
"  Marlborow."  The  present  Westborough  is  the  south- 
western part  of  the  ancient  "  plantacion,"  with  some  addi- 


4  EARLY   HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

tions  on  the  west  and  south.  The  story  I  am  to  try  to  tell 
runs  back  to  the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and 
comes  down  to  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth.  It  is  the  story 
of  a  quiet  inland  town,  with  few  striking  episodes ;  of  small 
importance  to  the  history  of  State  or  nation ;  not  great  in 
the  arena  of  public  affairs,  but  taking  its  share,  without 
either  fuss  or  flinching,  in  the  movements  that  the  times 
have  thrust  upon  it.  What  I  should  be  glad  to  do,  if 
possible,  is  to  "  develop,"  as  the  photographers  say,  a 
few  pictures  that  have  long  lain  concealed  in  musty 
documents  and  half-forgotten  traditions,  and  give  them 
a  little  reahty  to  the  descendants  of  the  men  and  women 
who  subdued  the  wilderness,  and  made  the  pleasant  life 
of  to-day  possible. 

In  the  earliest  time  of  which  we  have  any  knowledge, — 
the  time  of  Indian  occupation,  —  this  region  was  a  border- 
land between  two  or  three  tribes.  It  is  quite  impossible 
to  clear  up  the  confusion  which  rests  on  the  topography  of 
Indian  tribes,  and  leads  nearly  every  writer  on  the  subject 
to  a  different  conclusion.  They  were  still  a  nomadic  race, 
to  a  great  extent;  their  boundaries  were  flexible,  and  the 
relative  subordination  of  tribes  and  clans  to  one  another 
varied  from  time  to  time.  In  general,  it  seems  reasonable 
to  adopt  the  statements  of  Major  Gookin,  the  friend  and 
helper  of  John  Eliot,  who  travelled  over  the  whole  region 
and  had  friendly  intercourse  with  all  the  tribes.  Accord- 
ing to  his  division  the  Pokanokets,  or  Wampanoags,  held 
southeastern  Massachusetts, —  including  Bristol,  Plymouth, 
and  Norfolk  counties,  —  as  far  north  as  Charles  River.  The 
Massachusetts  occupied  the  district  north  of  Charles  River, 
and  westward  from  Massachusetts  Bay  to  the  western 
boundary   of  Middlesex    County.     The   Pawtuckets  were 


INDIAN   HISTORY  AND   LEGEND.  5 

north  of  the  Massachusetts,  covering  Essex  County  and 
part  of  north  Middlesex,  and  extending  into  lower  New 
Hampshire.  Westward  of  these  tribes  were  the  Nip- 
mucks,  whose  principal  domain  was  along  the  Nipmuck 
or  Blackstone  River,  but  also  extended  westerly  toward 
the  Connecticut.  To  this  tribe  belonged  the  Indians  of 
Hassanemisco,  whom  Eliot  had  gathered  into  the  sem- 
blance of  a  town  on  Grafton  Hill. 

Near  the  junction  of  the  Concord  and  Merrimac  rivers, 
—  now  in  Lowell,  —  the  Wamesits,  a  clan  of  the  Paw- 
tucket  tribe,  had  their  headquarters;  and  to  this  clan  be- 
longed the  Indians  of  the  Marlborough  settlement.  The 
territory  of  the  present  Westborough,  therefore,  had  the 
Nipmucks  on  the  one  hand  and  the  Wamesits  on  the 
other,  while  the  Massachusetts  were  close  by  on  the  east. 
It  is  uncertain  which  of  the  tribes  built  their  camp-fires 
around  these  ponds,  and  gave  them  their  names,  and  wove 
their  superstitions  about  them,  since  they  all  alike  belonged 
to  the  great  Algonquin  race  and  spoke  its  language. 
But  they  have  left  their  traces  in  two  or  three  localities. 
Chauncy  Pond  was  to  them  Naggawoomcom,  or  "  Great 
Pond  ; "  and  the  pretty  sheet  of  water  at  the  foot  of  what 
was  then  a  serpent-haunted  hill,  hidden  among  thick  trees, 
its  waters  always  dark  with  shadows,  its  shores  a  lurking- 
place  for  wild  beasts,  received  from  these  imaginative 
children  of  Nature  the  name  of  Hobomoc, — their  Evil 
Spirit,  to  whose  dwelling-place  they  believed  it  to  be  a 
hidden  entrance. 

The  late  Horace  Maynard,  of  Tennessee,  who  was  a 
Westborough  boy,  made  use,  in  his  college  days,  of  the 
old  Indian  traditions  about  this  latter  spot  to  weave  a  very 
pretty  legend  of  the  tiny  lakelet,  —  a  tale  of  love  and  strat- 
agem and  revenge.     There  is  a  chief  and  a  rival ;   a  dusky 


6  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

maiden  beloved  of  both,  but  soon  to  be  wedded  by  the 
chief.  There  is  a  little  skiff  upon  the  lake  paddled  by  the 
maid  ;  a  dark  figure  plunging  into  the  water,  and  swimming 
silently  under  the  surface  till  he  can  pull  the  unsuspecting 
bride  down  to  her  death,  so  mysteriously  that  they  who 
spy  it  from  the  shore  attribute  it  to  the  evil  Hobomoc  him- 
self. Then,  as  a  year  is  finished,  comes  a  warning  to  the 
murderer,  mysterious  and  awful ;  the  second  year,  another ; 
the  third,  a  vengeance,  weird  and  terrible,  sweeps  him  to 
his  watery  doom  beneath  the  dark  surface  of  this  mouth  of 
hell.  And  thereafter  when  any  of  the  tribe  crossed  the 
spot  he  dropped  a  stone  into  its  depths,  until  the  cairn 
rose  above  the  surface. 

There  would  be  little  use  in  looking  for  the  monument 
to-day.  But  there  are  few  spots  that  are  the  worse  for  a 
legend  or  two ;  and  this  one  lends  itself  to  the  purpose 
with  a  singular  suggestiveness,  as  the  imaginative  youth 
from  the  old  farm-house  on  the  hill  discovered. 

Besides  the  names  they  have  left  and  the  legends 
they  have  suggested,  there  is  very  little  by  which  we  may 
trace  the  occupancy  of  the  Indian  proprietors.  There 
is  a  measure  of  probability  that  we  have  such  a  trace  in 
the  name  of  the  Jackstraw  Pasture,  beyond  the  house  of 
Nathan  M.  Knowlton.  This  section  was  granted  to  one 
William  Beeres  about  the  time  of  the  incorporation  of 
Marlborough,  and  was  then  known  as  Jack  Straw's  Hill. 
This  indicates  a  previous  Indian  occupation.  In  April, 
163 1,  Governor  Winthrop  was  visited  in  Boston  by  Wah- 
ginnacut,  —  "a  sagamore  upon  the  River  Quonehtacut 
[Connecticut],  which  lies  west  of  Naragancet,"  —  "with 
John  Sagamore  and  Jack  Straw, — an  Indian  who  had 
lived  in  England,  and  had  served  Sir  Walter  Raleigh, 
and  was  now  turned  Indian  again,  —  and  divers  of  their 


INDIAN   HISTORY  AND   LEGEND.  / 

sannops,"  who  "  brought  a  letter  to  the  governour,  etc." 
Whether  this  was  the  Indian  who  gave  the  name  to 
the  hill  in  question  is  uncertain,  but  it  is  not  impossible. 
Accounts  have  been  found  of  two  Indians  carried  by 
Kaleigh  from  his  Roanoke  colony  to  England;  and  of 
these  the  only  one  who  remained  here  was  known  as  Man- 
teo.  He  was  the  first  Indian  baptized  by  the  English 
colonists,  and  served  them  as  scout  and  interpreter.  He 
was  made  "king"  of  an  island  in  Pamlico  Sound,  which 
still  bears  the  name  of  Manteo.  Raleigh's  expedition  to 
this  coast  was  in  1584;  and  a  youth  who  was  twenty 
years  old  at  that  time  would  be  sixty-seven  at  the 
time  of  the  interview  with  Governor  Winthrop.  There 
is  not  sufficient  evidence  to  make  any  positive  asser- 
tions, but  the  coincidence  of  statements  is  highly  inter- 
esting. A  hundred  years  later  there  were  three  Indians 
bearing  the  surname  of  Jackstraw  living  in  Hopkinton. 
They  might  easily  enough  have  been  the  descendants  of 
this  Indian,  as  the  Hopkinton  line  is  not  far  from  the 
locality  which  bears  his  name.  How  he  came  by  so  sin- 
gular a  cognomen  is  not  easily  answered,  but  a  curious 
extract  from  the  "Narrative  of  Phineas  Pratt,"  who  came 
to  this  country  in  1622,  gives  a  possible  hint.     He  says:  — 

"  Not  long  after  the  overthrow  of  the  first  plantation  in  the 
bay,  Capt.  Louit  Cam  to  yer  Cuntry.  At  the  Time  of  his  being 
at  Pascataway,  a  Sacham,  or  Sagamor,  Gaue  two  of  his  men,  on 
to  Capt.  Louit,  &  An  other  to  Mr.  Tomson  ;  but  on  yt  was  ther 
said,  'How  can  you  trust  those  Salvagis?  Cale  the  nam  of  on 
Watt  Tyler,  &  ye  other  Jack  Straw,  after  ye  names  of  the  two 
greatest  Rebills  yt  ever  weare  in  Eingland.'  " 

Pratt  relates  this  out  of  the  fulness  of  his  heart,  for  he 
had  suffered  much  at  the  hands  of  the  Indians,  and  con- 
sidered them  the  most  treacherous  rascals  alive. 


8  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

There  were  other  Indians  in  the  vicinity,  of  whom  the 
white  men,  on  their  arrival,  purchased  lands ;  but  they  had 
already  disappeared,  to  a  considerable  extent,  before  that 
time.  For  we  remember  that  only  eight  years  before  the 
"  Mayflower  "  touched  Plymouth  Bay  there  had  been  a 
pestilential  fever  all  along  the  coast,  which  had  decimated 
the  tribes.  And  with  the  coming  of  the  English  the  days 
of  the  natives  were  numbered.  Not  that  the  Pilgrims  had 
any  purpose  of  extermination,  or  even  of  conquest.  They 
had  even  cherished  the  hope,  as  no  small  part  of  their 
object  in  coming  to  this  wilderness,  "  to  propagate  and 
advance  the  Gospel  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in  those 
remote  parts  of  the  world."  And  no  sooner  were  they 
freed  from  the  necessity  of  using  all  their  strength  in  se- 
curing a  bare  subsistence  for  themselves,  than  they  took 
measures  to  civilize  and  Christianize  the  aborigines.  As 
early  as  1644  the  General  Court  took  cognizance  of  the 
matter,  and  ordered  the  county  courts  to  take  care  of  the 
Indians  in  their  several  shires.  In  the  two  succeeding 
years  still  more  definite  action  was  taken,  looking  toward 
the  gathering  of  them  into  communities,  and  bringing 
them   under   religious    instruction. 

John  Eliot  was  the  leading  spirit  in  this  movement,  full 
of  zeal  for  the  Christianizing  of  the  red  men ;  and  as  soon 
as  the  government  indorsement  was  obtained,  he  began 
the  work  at  Nonantum  and  Natick  which  has  made  his 
name  a  household  word.  By  1654  he  had  gathered  the 
"  praying  Indians  "  into  a  colony  at  Natick,  and  was  pe- 
titioning the  General  Court  "  that  those  Indians  might  be 
settled,  who  were  scattered  yet,  in  convenient  places  un- 
claimed by  the  English."  The  places  indicated  by  him 
were  some  of  them  within  or  near  the  locality  of  our  story. 
Naguncook    was  at  Hopkinton;    Hassanemisco,  at  Graf- 


INDIAN   HISTORY  AND   LEGEND.  9 

ton ;   and  a  third  settlement  was  on  Okommokamesit  ^  Hill, 
just  north  of  the  present  village  of  Marlborough.     These 
Indians  were  partially  civilized,  and   quite   different  from 
the   wild    forest-rangers   who    named    hill    and    lake    and 
stream.     They  had  lost  their   picturesqueness ;  they  had 
certainly  gained  something;   but  they  were,  at  this  stage 
in  their  development,  a  strange  and  uncouth  compound  of 
barbarism  and  civilization.     Their  teachers  had  committed 
the  common  mistake  of  trying  to  graft  advanced  English 
customs  on   undeveloped   natures;   and   the   result  was  a 
comical  incongruity,  like  the  blanket  and  silk  hat  of  the 
modern  Indian  of  the  West.     They  had  awakened  their 
religious  impulses,  but  their  ethical  knowledge  was  very 
slight,  and  they  had  no  trained  instincts.     They  had  been 
forced  to  have  a  local  government  like  that  of  the  white 
men,  in  forgetfulness  of  the  fact  that  it  had  taken  the  nur- 
tured English  mind  some  centuries  to  arrive  at  the  idea  of 
self-government.     They  were  organized  into  churches,  and 
that  too  of  the  prevailing  Congregational  pattern,  —  which 
being  a  new  thing,  reasoned  their  teachers,  and  the  best 
thing,  must  be  the  thing  for  the  savage.    They  were  taught 
to  cultivate  the  land,  — which  was  exactly  the  right  thing, 
because  the  first  in  order  in  the  development  of  the  arts ; 
but  they  were  bidden  to  live  in  houses  like  the  white  man, 
and  wear  his  dress,  and  bear  his  English  names ;  and  these 
things  did  not  fit  them  as  yet.     The  chief  of  this  Okom- 
mokamesit  town  was  Onomog,  of  whom  Gookin  says,  in 
his   Cromwellian  phraseology,  that  he  was  "  a  pious  and 

1  This  name,  like  so  many  other  Indian  names,  is  spelled  in  various  ways. 
Besides  the  above,  which  is  the  more  euphonious,  though  probably  a 
later  form,  I  find  Ockoocangansett,  Ogkanhquokamus,  and  Ogquomkong- 
quamesut.  The  early  settlers  had  a  pretty  severe  struggle  with  the  ordi- 
nary spelling-book ;  when  it  came  to  Indian  names,  they  were  apt  to 
surrender  at  sight. 


10  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

discreet  man,  and  the  very  soul,  cis  it  were,  of  that  place." 
He  died  in  1674. 

But  however  earnestly  the  friends  of  the  Indian  were  la- 
boring for  his  elevation  in  the  scale  of  manhood,  the  work- 
ing of  other  inevitable  forces  that  accompany  and  help 
to  make  social  progress  had  begun,  and  the  Indian  was 
already  passing  away  before  the  higher  skill  and  the  wider 
ambition  of  EngHsh  training.  The  law  of  the  survival  of 
the  fittest  was  to  have  a  signal  illustration.  The  leaders 
of  the  colonies  had  the  best  of  intentions  toward  the  na- 
tives; Eliot  and  his  assistants  were  unremitting  in  their 
efforts  to  do  them  good  in  body  and  soul,  —  but  not  all  the 
colonists  were  like  the  leaders.  We  are  too  apt  to  gen- 
eralize vaguely  concerning  these  ancestors  of  ours,  and 
because  the  Plymouth  Pilgrims  were  men  of  a  high  stamp, 
as  statesmen  and  as  Christians,  to  assume  that  all  who  came 
to  the  colonies  were  of  the  same  type.  But  history  does 
not  bear  us  out  in  this  assumption.  There  were  adven- 
turers among  the  immigrants.  There  were  men  who  be- 
came mischief-makers  in  the  new  towns;  there  were  those 
who  had  to  be  sent  back,  to  get  them  out  of  the  way. 
And  among  those  who  remained,  and  who  gradually 
pushed  their  way  westward,  there  were  those  who  cared 
little  for  any  one's  rights  but  their  own,  and  who  had  as 
much  share  in  making  the  life  of  the  towns  as  those  who 
were  of  a  better  mind.  These  men  could  not  be  made  to 
look  on  the  Indian  as  anything  but  an  incumbrance,  to 
be  gotten  rid  of.  The  feeling  that  "  the  only  good  Indian 
is  a  dead  Indian  "  did  not  originate  in  the  Western  plains, 
if  the  phrase  did ;  and  the  broad  meadows  and  produc- 
tive "  planting  fields  "  of  the  civilized  Indians  were  too 
strong  a  temptation  to  the  white  man,  who  very  soon 
contrived  to  possess  them,  and  not  always  by  the  method 


FIRST  WHITE  SETTLERS.  II 

of  lawful  purchase.  There  were  those  who  protested 
against  injustice;  but  even  the  brave  and  true  men  who 
have  deserved  only  the  gratitude  of  posterity  were  men 
who  had  been  brought  up  on  the  Old  Testament  ideas 
rather  than  on  those  of  the  New.  They  believed  that  God 
had  given  this  land  to  his  saints,  as  he  did  Canaan  of 
old,  —  and  they  believed  that  they  were  the  saints ;  and 
brave  and  true  as  they  were,  according  to  their  age,  they 
did  not  always  —  especially  when  smarting  from  the  cruel- 
ties of  Indian  warfare  — see  in  the  clearest  light  the  claims 
of  the  original  proprietor.  If,  as  we  read  the  story,  we 
are  tempted  to  be  harsh  with  them  for  this,  we  have  sev- 
eral more  modern  stories,  like  that  of  the  Black  Hills,  by 
which  we  may  temper  our  righteous  wrath. 

John  Eliot's  little  colony  on  Okommokamesit  Hill  very 
soon  found  that  it  was  to  have  English  company.  In  the 
very  same  year  (1654)  that  Eliot  sent  up  his  petition  to 
the  General  Court  "  that  they  might  be  settled  in  this, 
among  other  places,  unclaimed  by  the  English,"  the 
first  white  man,  one  John  How,  is  believed  to  have  built 
his  solitary  cabin  a  little  east  of  their  planting-field.  He 
came  from  Watertown,  led  by  what  motives  it  might  be 
hard  to  say,  but  bent  on  separation  from  society.  He 
was  kind  and  friendly  with  his  dusky  neighbors,  and 
from  his  superior  knowledge  came  to  be  regarded  by 
them  as  a  sage  and  counsellor,  and  made  a  referee  in 
their  disputes.  In  Allen's  "  History  of  Northborough" 
an  amusing  illustration  of  this  is  cited.  A  dispute  arose 
one  day  between  two  of  the  natives  concerning  the  own- 
ership of  a  pumpkin,  which  had  ripened  in  the  field  of  one 
of  the  parties,  while  the  vine  that  bore  it  had  its  roots  in 
the  other  man's  domain.  Unable  to  solve  so  difficult  a 
case  of  casuistry,  they  had   recourse   to  Mr.  How.     He 


12  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

gravely  heard  the  case,  put  on  his  wisest  countenance,  and 
ordered  the  disputed  property  to  be  placed  before  him. 
Then  calling  for  a  knife,  he  cut  the  pumpkin  in  two, 
and  gave  half  to  each, — to  the  unbounded  admiration 
of  the  litigants. 

But  this  life  of  patriarchal  simplicity  was  of  short  dura- 
tion. It  was  only  two  years  after  the  arrival  of  How  (in 
May,  1656)  that  thirteen  men  of  Sudbury  —  a  town  then 
eighteen  years  old  —  petitioned  the  General  Court  for  a 
grant  of  land  lying  about  eight  miles  to  the  westward. 
They  had  lived  a  good  while  in  Sudbury,  they  said ;  their 
children  were  growing  up,  and  needing  land ;  their  cattle 
were  much  increased ;  and,  in  short,  "  wee  are  so  straight- 
ened that  wee  cannot  so  Comfortably  subsist  as  could  be 
desired."  There  was  no  satisfying  these  pioneers  in  the 
matter  of  room.  They  felt  crowded  as  soon  as  there  were 
fifty  families  in  a  town.  They  could  not  find  elbow-room 
on  a  farm  of  less  than  five  hundred  acres,  even  when  they 
had  in  addition  no  end  of  meadow-land  divided  into  lots 
for  the  common  weal.  Fifty  years  afterward  the  Haynes 
farm,  lying  to  the  west  of  Westborough,  contained  1,686 
acres  in  one  place,  and  3,200  in  another;  and  yet  the  heirs 
were  claiming  from  the  General  Court  a  modest  settlement 
of  5,000  acres  more.  The  settlers  all  cried  with  a  naive 
literalness,  — 

"  No  pent-up  Utica  contracts  our  powers, 
But  the  whole  boundless  continent  is  ours." 

As  a  consequence,  the  spread  of  new  towns  westward 
was  rapid.  Boston  was  incorporated  in  1630,  and  on  the 
same  day  Watertown,  including  at  that  time  Waltham 
and  Weston.  Three  years  later  Cambridge,  including 
Brighton  and  Lexington,  became  a  town  under  the  name 
of  Newtown.     In   1635  Concord,  containing  Lincoln  and 


FIRST  WHITE  SETTLERS.  1 3 

Acton,  began  its  history;  and  Sudbury,  including  the  fu- 
ture Wayland,  followed  in  1639.  Thus  nine  years  from 
the  founding  of  Boston,  and  nineteen  from  the  landing 
of  the  Pilgrims,  brought  the  Englishmen  to  the  borders 
of  the  "  borough  towns." 

The  population  followed  river-courses  and  sought  the 
neighborhood  of  ponds,  on  account  of  the  meadow-lands, 
which  bore  their  crops  of  grass  without  cultivation  while 
the  settlers  were  carrying  on  the  slower  work  of  subduing 
upland  and  woodland  to  the  plough.  So,  climbing  the 
hills  to  the  westward,  these  restless  spirits  coveted  the  fair 
lands  that  sloped  away  toward  the  sunset,  and  sent  in  their 
petition  in  this  year  of  grace  1656.  They  obtained  their 
wish,  too,  to  the  extent  of  "  a  proportion  of  land  six 
miles  square,  or  otherwise  in  some  convenient  form  equiv- 
alent thereto,  at  the  discretion  of  the  committee,  in  the 
place  desired,  —  provided,  that  it  hinder  no  former  grant; 
that  there  be  a  town  settled  with  twenty  or  more  families 
within  three  years,  so  as  an  able  ministry  may  be  there 
maintained." 

Inasmuch,  however,  as  this  was  found  to  interfere  with 
the  grant  to  the  Indians  through  John  Eliot  two  years  be- 
fore, the  Court  ordered  the  planters  to  reserve  six  thousand 
acres  for  the  red  men,  and  suit  themselves  as  well  as  they 
could  with  the  remainder.  This  they  were  reluctant  to  do, 
and  at  first  stoutly  rebelled,  and  reserved  only  a  part  of 
the  required  area;  but  Eliot  so  successfully  championed 
his  wards  that  in  1658  the  Court  ordered  "that  the  Indian 
plantation  be  enlarged  northerly  until  they  have  their  full 
6,000  acres;  "  and  the  English  had  to  submit  as  best  they 
might. 

The  land  thus  granted  to  the  settlers  was  not  at  once 
incorporated  as  a  town,  but  became  known  as  the  Whip- 


14  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH, 

suppenicke,  or,  more  commonly,  the  Whipsufiferadge 
Plantation,  from  the  Indian  name  of  the  hill  which  lies  a 
mile  or  so  south  of  Okommokamesit.  But  on  the  31st  of 
May,  1660,  in  answer  to  a  petition  of  the  Whipsufiferadge 
planters,  the  Court  confirmed  the  former  grant,  and  in- 
corporated the  settlement  as  a  town,  to  be  called  "  Marl- 
borow."  It  included  what  has  since  become  Southborough, 
most  of  Westborough  and  Northborough,  and  a  part  of 
Hudson. 


CHAPTER   11. 

1660-1676. 

EARLIEST    LANDHOLDERS    WITHIN    THE    LIMITS    OF    THE 
PRESENT  TOWN. —  "KING"   PHILIP'S   WAR. 

'T^O  follow  the  history  of  Marlborough,  which  has  al- 
ready  been  well  written,  is  not  in  our  purpose, 
except  as  it  is  interwoven  with  the  first  English  occupa- 
tion of  the  lands  which  were  afterward  incorporated  as 
Westborough.  At  the  very  beginning  the  settlers  were 
attracted  by  its  meadows  and  streams,  toward  the  western 
part  of  their  domain,  even  while  they  were  trying  to  get 
possession  of  the  Indian  planting-field  on  the  eastern  hill. 
The  thirteen  families  of  1656  had  increased  to  thirty- 
eight  in  1660,  and  a  certain  portion  of  the  land,  more 
or  less  centrally  situated,  was  divided  into  "  house-lotts," 
containing  from  fifteen  to  fifty  acres ;  while  the  coveted 
meadows  were  apportioned  among  all  the  proprietors. 
Some  of  the  names  given  to  the  meadows  at  that 
time  have  survived,  —  Stirrup  Meadow  and  Cold  Harbor 
Meadow  in  Northborough,  along  the  streams  which  bear 
those  names ;  Middle  Meadow,  which  still  lies,  in  all  its 
original  charm,  to  the  west  of  the  Northborough  road, 
along  the  beginnings  of  the  Assabet,  and  reaches  to  the 
foot  of  the  first  hill  west  of  Westborough  village ;  and 
Cedar  Swamp  Meadow,  which  was  very  likely  at  that 
time  an  open  stretch  to  the  east  of  the  village.  There 
were  also  a  Crane  Meadow  and  a  Chauncy  Meadow, 
whose  situation  it  is  not  difficult  to  conjecture. 


1 6  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

The  town  business  was  begun,  in  September,  1660,  in 
the  usual  manner  of  the  time,  by  the  order  "  That  there 
bee  a  Rate  made  ffor  Mr.  WilHam  Brimsmead,  Minister, 
to  be  collected  of  the  Inhabitants  and  Proprietors  of 
the  town  [for  six  months],  at  the  rate  of  four  pence  per 
acre  upon  Plouse  Lotts,  and  three  pence  per  pound  upon 
Cattle."  The  next  year  a  house  was  built  for  the  minis- 
ter, and  in  1662  a  tax  was  imposed  for  building  a  meet- 
ing-house. But  these  orders  were  slow  in  taking  effect. 
The  people  of  the  early  settlements  were  chiefly  eager 
to  get  their  land  subdued  and  their  own  houses  built; 
being  obliged  by  law  to  have  a  meeting-house  and  a 
minister  at  once,  they  conformed  to  the  requirement  by 
passing  the  proper  votes  at  their  first  meetings,  while  they 
were  often  very  slow  in  the  fulfilment  of  them.  More- 
over, in  this  particular  case  the  proprietors  had  made 
some  laws  of  their  own,  of  undue  severity,  concerning  the 
tenure  of  lands,  requiring  the  owners  to  improve  them 
within  a  very  short  time,  and  to  pay  heavy  taxes,  or 
else  to  forfeit  their  lands.  Money  was  scarce,  and  the 
work  of  reclaiming  the  lands  was  arduous  and  slow ;  the 
result  was  an  attempt  to  apply  the  law  of  forfeiture, 
which  led  to  endless  disagreement  and  litigation.  It 
was  not,  therefore,  till  1666  that  a  church  was  actually 
organized,  over  which  Mr.  Brimsmead,  with  some  natural 
reluctance,  was  settled. 

But  meantime  the  taking  up  of  lands  in  the  western 
part  of  the  town  was  going  on.  The  very  earliest  trace 
of  individual  ownership  in  this  section  is  of  unusual  in- 
terest. It  was  in  1654,  the  same  year  that  saw  the  first 
white  man's  cabin  in  Marlborough,  that  the  Rev.  Charles 
Chauncy,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Scituate,  —  formerly 
vicar  of  Ware,  Hertfordshire,  England,  which  parish  he 


EARLIEST   LANDHOLDERS.  1 7 

left  on  account  of  his  Puritanism,  —  became  the  second 
president  of  Harvard  College.  The  salary  attached  to  the 
position  was  then  exceedingly  small;  and  in  order  that 
he  might  have  the  means  of  support,  the  General  Court, 
poor  in  pounds  sterling,  but  rich  in  lands,  granted  him 
several  large  tracts  in  the  then  unoccupied  territory  be- 
yond the  settlements.  Under  such  a  grant  he  took  up,  in 
1659,  the  year  previous  to  the  incorporation  of  Marl- 
borough, certain  lands  lying  about  the  pond  that  bears 
his  name  to-day,  which  are  thus  minutely  described  in  the 
surveyor's  report  to  the  General  Court,  Aug.  18,  1659: 

"Whereas  John  Stone  and  Andrew  Belcher  were  appointed 
to  lay  out  a  farme  for  Mr.  Charles  Chauncy,  President  of  Har- 
vard College,  we  have  gone  and  looked  on  a  place,  and  there  is 
taken  up  a  tract  of  land  bounded  in  this  manner  :  On  the  East 
a  little  swampe  neare  an  Jndjan  wigwam,  a  plajne  runing  to  a 
great  pond,  and  from  thence  to  Assebeth  River;  and  this  Ijne 
is  circular  on  the  north  side,  the  south  Ijne  runing  circular  to 
the  south  side  of  a  peece  of  meadow  called  Jacob's  meadow,  & 
so  to  continew  till  it  reach  to  the  sajd  Assebeth  River." 

The  outlines  of  this  original  "  Chauncy  Farm  "  cannot 
be  traced  to-day  from  this  description;  the  Indian  wig- 
wam has  disappeared,  but  the  "  great  pond  "  —  so  named 
by  the  Indians  —  and  "Assebeth  River"  remain,  and  suffi- 
ciently indicate  the  situation  of  the  tract.  When,  in  the 
following  year,  Marlborough  was  incorporated,  the  grant 
then  confirmed  to  the  settlers  included  this  farm  of 
President  Chauncy's;  and  that  the  resident  proprietors 
might  not  be  prevented  from  occupying  all  the  land 
within  the  boundaries  of  the  town,  the  Court  ordered 
"  that  Mr.  Chauncy  be  by  them  repaid  all  his  charges 
expended  in  laying  out  his  farm  in  that  place ;  and  he 
hath  liberty  to  lay  out  the  same  in  any  lands  not  formerly 


1 8  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

granted  by  this  Court."  Thus  while  the  president's  owner- 
ship passed  away  after  a  year's  occupation,  the  name  re- 
mained. Subsequently  a  settlement  grew  up  about  the 
pond,  and  was  called  Chauncy,  or  Chauncy  Village,  — 
which  name  it  bore  until  it  was  incorporated  as  West- 
borough.  It  is  singular  that  a  century  later  all  knowledge 
of  this  origin  of  the  name  had  been  lost,  so  that  Mr.  Park- 
man,  the  first  minister  of  Westborough,  could  write  as 
follows  in  I  'j6'j :  "  This  town  was  formerly  a  part  of 
Marlborough,  and  called  Chauncy.  It  is  said  that  in  early 
times  one  Mr.  Chauncy  was  lost  in  one  of  the  swamps 
here,  and  that  from  thence  this  part  of  the  town  had  its 
name.  Two  ponds,  a  greater  and  a  less,  are  also  called 
Chauncy,  —  most  probably  from  the  same  cause."  The 
Rev.  Joseph  Allen,  of  Northborough,  first  called  atten- 
tion, in  1826,  to  the  true  origin  of  the  name,  which 
subsequent  investigations  of  the  State  records  have  abun- 
dantly established. 

In  1662  the  General  Court  granted,  on  account  of 
services  rendered  to  the  colony  by  his  son  John,  then 
deceased,  one  hundred  and  fifty  acres  to  William  Hol- 
loway ;  and  he  seems  to  have  taken  up  a  section  of 
land  which  was  afterward  known  as  the  Holloway  and 
Wheeler  Farm,  in  the  extreme  north  of  Northborough. 
Land  situated  still  farther  westward  had  been  in  the 
possession  of  settlers  before  this  time.  In  1657  John 
and  Josiah  Haynes  and  a  Mr.  Treadway  bought  of  Mrs. 
Parnell  Nowell,  widow  of  Increase  Nowell,  who  was  for 
many  years  Governor's  Assistant  in  the  Massachusetts 
Colony,  3,200  acres  which  lay  in  what  is  now  Shrews- 
bury, but  adjoining  Northborough  on  the  west.  In  1664 
this  land  was  surveyed  and  formally  allotted  to  them. 
John   Haynes   also  bought   of  Joseph   Robin,  an  Indian 


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EARLIEST  LANDHOLDERS.  IQ 

proprietor,  1,686  acres  adjoining  Hassanemisco,  and  per- 
haps including  some  territory  now  in  Westborough,  be- 
yond the  house  of  B.  A.  Nourse,  on  the  New  England 
Village  road. 

In  1 67 1  the  Marlborough  young  men  began  to  sigh 
for  more  extended  dominion,  and  sent  up  a  petition  to 
the  General  Court  on  the  31st  of  March,  headed  by 
Thomas  King,  and  containing  among  others  the  names 
of  Thomas  Rice,  John  Fay,  and  Thomas  and  John  Brig- 
ham,  asking  for  a  grant  of  lands  situated  forty  or  fifty 
miles  south  or  southwest  of  Marlborough.  As  this  was 
outside  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay,  their  request  could  not  be  granted,  and  they  were 
advised  to  seek  other  lands  on  the  Connecticut  River. 
Foiled  in  this  project,  several  of  the  number  contented 
themselves  with  taking  up  farms  in  the  west  part  of  Marl- 
borough, which  now  or  soon  after  acquired  its  popular 
title  of  "  Chauncy."  John  Brigham,  afterward  known  as 
"  Dr."  Brigham,  son  of  the  Thomas  Brigham  who  came 
from  England,  obtained  a  grant  of  land  situated  north 
of  the  present  village  of  Northborough  and  including 
the  meadows  about  Howard  Brook.  This  was  in  1672, 
when  he  was  twenty-eight  years  old.  On  this  brook  he 
built  a  saw-mill ;  and  there  he  lived  alone  among  the 
savages  until  their  hostility  drove  him  away.  In  the 
same  year  a  grant  was  made  to  Samuel  Goodenow  and 
Thomas  Brigham  (brother  of  the  John  Brigham  above 
mentioned),  situated  in  the  easterly  part  of  North- 
borough.  Samuel  Goodenow's  house  stood  near  the 
spot  where  Stirrup  Brook  crosses  the  road  from  North- 
borough  to  Marlborough.  Thomas  Brigham  lived  on 
the  Warren  Brigham  place,  on  the  south  road  between 
Northborough    and    Marlborough.      Another     grant    was 


J' 


■y-  _ 


20  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

made  in  1672  to  John  Rediet,  "west  of  Assebeth  River, 
northwest  of  Chauncy  Great  Pond,  bounded  on  the  east 
by  a  spruce  swamp,"  and  another  on  "  the  Nepmuck 
road,  that  formerly  led  toward  Coneticoat."  The  former 
of  these  grants,  afterward  the  farm  of  Nathaniel  Oake, 
who  married  John  Rediet's  daughter,  belonged  at  a 
later  period  to  the  Rev.  John  Martyn  and  the  Rev.  Peter 
Whitney. 

In  the  south  part  of  Chauncy,  which  is  now  West- 
borough,  Thomas  Rice  is  reported  to  have  been  the  first 
settler.  His  house  stood  in  the  rear  of  the  Christopher 
Whitney  place.  Just  when  he  came  is  uncertain;  but  he 
was  here  in  1675,  and  his  house  was  garrisoned  during 
King  Philip's  war.  He  was  born  June  30,  1654,  and  was 
the(Son^of  Edmund  Rice,  who  came  from  England.  His 
./^i^-  first  wife,  Mary,  died  in  Watertown  May  13,  1677,  and  in 
168 1  he  married  his  cousin,  Anna  Rice.  He  was  twenty- 
one  years  old  in  1675,  ^"^  '^  is  probable  that  he  married 
his  first  wife  and  built  his  rude  dwelling  at  the  foot  of  the 
hill  but  a  very  short  time  before  that.  Whether  there 
were  other  settlers  as  early  as  this  within  the  present  limits 
of  Westborough  is  uncertain.  The  "  Fay  Farm,"  in  the 
western  part,  —  a  portion  of  the  irregular  outline  of  which 
has  determined  the  shape  of  the  town  in  that  locality, — 
was  certainly  occupied  very  early,  and  seems  to  have  been 
in  the  possession  of  some  of  the  Brighams  before  it  passed 
into  the  possession  of  John  and  Samuel  Fay;  but  as  it 
had  no  garrison  in  1675,  there  were  probably  at  that  time 
no  dwellings  on  it. 

The  year  1675  is  memorable  throughout  this  region.  It 
saw  the  most  serious  clash  that  ever  occurred  between  the 
settlers  and  the  aborigines  in  New  England,  and  the  set- 
tlement here  received  a  check  that  was  almost  fatal.     The 


KING   PHILIP'S   WAR.  21 

relations  between  the  English  and  the  Indians  on  Okom- 
mokamesit  hill  had  never  been  severely  strained  up  to 
this  time.  The  whites  had,  indeed,  always  begrudged  the 
Indians  their  allotment  of  six  thousand  acres,  but  they 
made  no  further  attempts  to  encroach  upon  it,  probably 
feeling  sure  that  it  would  soon  fall  to  them  for  lack  of 
inhabitants.  For  while  the  English  settlement  was  rap- 
idly growing,  the  Indian  town  was  passing  away.  In  1674 
it  contained  only  ten  families  and  fifty  persons.  Major 
Gookin,  in  his  queer,  Puritanic  English,  and  with  the 
grotesque  use  of  Scripture  then  prevalent,  sums  up  the 
situation  thus  forcibly :  "  This  town  doth  join  so  near  to 
the  English  of  Marlborough  that  it  was  spoken  of  by 
David  in  type,  and  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  the  antitype, 
'Under  his  shadow  ye  shall  rejoice;'  but  the  Indians 
here  do  not  much  rejoice  under  the  Englishmen's 
shadow,  who  do  so  overtop  them  in  their  number  of 
people,  stocks  of  cattle,  &c.,  that  the  Indians  do  not 
greatly  flourish  or  delight  in  their  shadow  at  present." 

This  was  inevitable.  While  the  intelligence  and  skill 
of  the  Englishman  made  him  an  unequal  competitor  in 
the  struggle  for  life,  the  Indian  was  not  yet  ready  for 
any  large  success  as  a  cultivator  of  the  soil.  He  could 
only  rise  to  that  higher  grade  of  life  by  slow  degrees 
and  with  infinite  patience  of  training  on  the  part  of  his 
teachers.  This  the  average  settler  was  by  no  means 
prepared  to  give.  The  missionary  work  had  to  be 
done  by  a  few  enthusiasts,  and  they  were  unequal  to 
the  task. 

But  a  more  serious  collision  than  the  natural  one  be- 
tween ignorance  and  skill  was  impending.  While  no  con- 
flict was  likely  to  arise  with  the  Indians  of  the  "  praying 
towns,"  the   rest   of  the   aborigines   were   by  no   means 


22  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

subdued.  They  had  thus  far  dealt  kindly  enough  with 
the  new-comers,  raising  no  objection  to  selling  them  all 
the  lands  they  desired,  for  a  few  petty  objects  of  barter 
which  their  simple  barbaric  souls  craved.  But  Dr.  Ellis 
has  recently  called  attention  to  the  probability  that  they 
did  this  with  the  idea  that  it  was  only  a  joint  owner- 
ship that  the  white  man  sought.  They  were  not  in  the 
habit  of  using  their  lands  for  tillage,  and  did  not  see  why 
the  two  races  might  not  live  in  peace  on  the  same  soil. 
It  was  a  surprise  to  them  to  find  that  English  owner- 
ship meant  their  exclusion.  In  1643  and  1644  all  but 
one  of  the  sachems  of  eastern  Massachusetts  had  formally 
submitted  to  the  Government  of  the  colony,  so  that  all  the 
territory  from  the  Merrimac  to  Taunton  River  and  west- 
ward to  Brookfield  was  under  colonial  rule.  But  Philip  of 
Mount  Hope  had  never  submitted.  He  alone  saw  that  the 
sale  of  land  to  the  English  meant  the  driving  out  of  his 
race.  He  and  his  Pokanokets  had  long  been  the  terror 
of  Plymouth  Colony,  and  at  length  it  was  rumored  that 
he  had  persuaded  the  Nipmucks  to  become  his  allies.  If 
that  were  so,  it  was  a  serious  matter  for  our  pioneers. 
The  new  town  of  Marlborough  was  a  frontier  post  con- 
taining not  quite  fifty  families.  Situated  on  "  the  Con- 
necticut road,"  it  was  the  intermediate  station  between 
Boston  and  the  settlements  on  the  Connecticut  River. 
Eastward  were  Sudbury  and  Concord,  communicating, 
through  Lexington  and  Watertown,  with  Boston.  North- 
ward were  only  Lancaster  and  Groton.  On  the  southeast 
the  nearest  town  was  Medfield.  Southward  was  Mendon 
and  the  Indian  towns  of  Hassanemisco  and  Maguncook. 
Westward  the  country  stretched  away  unoccupied,  save 
by  Indians  and  wild  beasts,  to  where  the  newly  incorpo- 
rated town  of  Brookfield  rose  out  of  the  wilderness.     In 


KING  PHILIP'S   WAR.  23 

case  of  attack,  therefore,  Marlborough  was  in  a  situation 
of  extreme  peril. 

In  the  summer  of  1675  the  Nipmuck  Indians  began  to 
be  seriously  mistrusted.  They  had  killed  four  or  five 
people  in  Mendon,  and  alarmed  the  whole  region.  But 
the  Government,  still  hoping  to  make  alliance  with  them, 
sent  a  delegation,  headed  by  Capt.  Edward  Hutchinson 
of  Marlborough,  to  meet  their  chiefs  at  Quaboag  (Brook- 
field)  and  hold  parley.  The  end  of  that  expedition  every 
one  knows,  —  a  treacherous  ambush,  eight  men  killed,  the 
town  burned.  Captain  Hutchinson  mortally  wounded,  and 
the  expedition  utterly  routed.  Captain  Hutchinson's 
grave  may  be  seen  to-day  in  the  old  burying- ground 
in    Marlborough. 

In  October  eight  garrison  houses  were  established  in 
different  parts  of  the  town ;  these  were  surrounded  by 
rough  palisade  work,  and  to  them  a  few  soldiers  and  a 
number  of  the  neighboring  inhabitants  were  assigned  in 
case  of  attack.  One  of  these  was  Thomas  Rice's  house. 
The  town  had  already  been  made  a  military  post  and  a 
depot  of  supplies ;  and  in  the  struggle  that  ensued  it 
became  the  headquarters  of  the  army  of  defence. 

During  the  autumn  Philip  and  his  allies  were  engaged 
with  the  towns  on  the  Connecticut,  —  Deerfield,  Hadley, 
Northfield,  and  Springfield.  In  the  February  following 
there  was  trembling  throughout  all  the  region.  On  the 
lOth  the  savages  fell  upon  Lancaster,  which  then  joined 
this  town  on  the  north,  killing  or  capturing  more  than 
forty  persons,  among  them  brave  Mrs.  Rolandson  and 
her  children.  They  were  checked  in  their  career  only 
by  the  arrival  of  a  Marlborough  company  under  Captain 
Wadsworth.  Then  passing  southward,  plundering  as  they 
went,  hindered   from  attacking  Marlborough  only  by  its 


24  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

extra  defences,  on  the  21st  they  fell  upon  Medfield,  by  a 
concerted  movement  setting  fire  to  the  houses  before  the 
break  of  day,  and  escaping  with  savage  swiftness  before 
the  garrison  was  aroused. 

On  this  same  day  a  special  session  of  the  General 
Court  was  held,  when  further  measures  were  taken  for 
defence  in  a  war  which  was  becoming  atrocious,  and 
began  to  threaten  the  annihilation  of  the  settlements. 
Some  of  the  orders  issued  that  day  have  a  special 
interest  for  us.     For  example, — 

"  Major  Gen"  Denison  is  ordered  to  repair  unto  Marlborow, 
there  to  order  and  dispose  the  souldiers  under  their  several 
Captaines,  according  to  the  order  of  the  Generall  Court,  taking 
care  that  those  who  goe  forth  be  able  and  fitt  for  the  sajd 
march,  &  that  the  comissarys  doe  send  along  w"*  them  the  am- 
unitions  &  provisions  ;  &  that  the  troopers  &  so  many  of  the 
foote  soldiers  as  can  be  in  a  readiness  do  march  away  on  the 
second  day  of  the  week,  so  as  they  may  be  at  Quaboag  on 
the  third  day  according  to  the  agreement  of  the  comissioners. 
The  supernumerary  souldiers  are  to  be  disposed  for  the  garri- 
soning of  those  frontier  towns,  as  the  Major  Gen"  shall  judge 
meet,  excepting  only  such  as  for  just  reason  or  bodily  infirmity 
he  shall  dismiss,  special  respect  being  had  to  the  garrison  at 
Marlborow." 

There  were  also  the  following  "  Instructions  for  Mr. 
James  Brajden,  appointed  comissary  for  ye  army:  — 

"  I.  First,  you  are  to  speed  away  to  Marlborow  &  there  to 
choose  the  fBttest  house  you  can  hnde  to  lodge  the  provisions 
and  amunitions  that  is  sent  vnto  you,  and  to  cause  it  to  be 
carefully  secured  &  kept  for  the  vse  and  service  of  the  army  as 
there  shall  be  occasion. 

"  2.  You  are  to  declare  to  the  cheefe  comander  on  the  place 
that  it  is  the  Court's  pleasure  that  he  affoord  you  a  sufficient 
guard  for  the  securing  the  magazine. 


KING  PHILIP'S  WAR.  25 

"  3.  You  are  to  take  such  assistance  as  may  be  necessary  to 
performe  the  service  comitted  to  you  and  to  deliver  forth  what  is 
comitted  to  you  for  the  vse  &  service  of  the  army  &  keeping 
carefull  and  particular  accounts  of  all  matters  &  yielding  obedi- 
ence to  such  orders  as  you  shall  receive  from  the  coinander  in 
,  cheife  or  comittee  for  the  war,  and  give  intelligence  to  the 
council  or  comittee  for  y^  army  of  all  matters  requisit  for  the 
publick  service  respecting  yo'  place." 

A  warrant  was  also  directed  to  be  "  issued  out  to  y 
Comittee  for  y^  army  to  send  away  y^  provisions  ordered 
to  be  at  y^  headquarters  at  Marlborow  by  the  last  day  of 
the  week.  Also  to  send  up  some  liquors  and  spice  with  a 
competency  of  canvass  for  a  tent  to  shelter  y^  provisions 
and  amunition,  as  also  the  carpenters'  tools,  nayles,  &c., 
to  build  a  quarter  at  Quaboag  or  elsewhere;  which  was 
done." 

Troops  were  ordered  to  scour  the  country  between 
Groton  and  Lancaster,  and  Marlborough  and  Medfield, 
where  the  Indians  were  prowling  about  in  small  com- 
panies. Suspicions  began  to  arise,  also,  on  both  sides, 
against  the  praying  Indians,  —  on  the  part  of  the  whites, 
lest  they  were  enemies  in  disguise,  in  secret  communica- 
tion with  Philip's  army ;  on  the  part  of  the  hostile  Indians, 
lest  they  were  aiding  the  settlers.  So  between  upper  and 
nether  millstones  the  poor  fellows,  who  had  really  done  no 
harm  whatever,  were  crushed  out.  Some  Marlborough 
Indians  having  been  found  in  the  woods,  near  what  is 
now  New  Braintree,  with  the  horde  which  a  few  days 
later  ravaged  Lancaster,  the  few  remaining  warriors  of 
the  Okommokamesit  town  (in  all  but  fifteen)  were  ar- 
rested by  troops  sent  from  Governor  Leverett,  and  with 
their  hands  tied  behind  their  backs,  and  bound  neck  to 
neck  with  a  cart-rope,  they  were   driven  to  Boston,  and 


26  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

thence  taken  to  one  of  the  islands  in  the  harbor,  where 
they  passed  a  winter  of  severe  suffering. 

By  the  middle  of  March  the  woods  to  the  west  of  the 
town  were  swarming  with  the  savages.  On  the  13th  they 
burned  Groton,  and  the  whole  region  was  filled  with 
terror.  But  troops  being  sent  out  against  them,  they  fled 
to  the  Connecticut  River.  Thereupon  Marlborough,  not 
yet  fully  acquainted  with  the  subtlety  of  the  foe,  breathed 
freely  again,  and  the  soldiers  dispersed  to  their  farms. 
That  was  the  very  thing  the  wily  fellows  wanted,  and 
suddenly,  on  the  26th  of  March,  being  Sunday,  as  the 
people  were  unsuspiciously  worshipping  in  their  meeting- 
house, the  terrible  cry  rang  out,  "  The  Indians  are  upon 
us !  "  The  congregation  in  wild  confusion  rushed  to  the 
nearest  garrison  house,  and  fortunately  all  reached  it  in 
safety,  save  one  :  brave  Deacon  Newton,  delaying  in 
order  to  help  an  old  and  infirm  woman,  was  hit  by  a 
ball  in  his  elbow,  which  crippled  his  arm  for  life.  But 
he  had  nobly  exemplified  the  Christianity  of  which  he 
had  been  hearing  that  day,  and  proved  himself  a  deacon 
that  "  had  used  the  office  well,  and  purchased  to  himself 
a  good  degree." 

The  people  were  safe,  but  it  was  the  hour  of  doom  for 
the  town;  for  when  they  emerged  from  their  retreat  they 
found  meeting-house,  parsonage,  and  homes  burned,  their 
cattle  killed,  their  orchards  ruined.  After  sixteen  years  of 
life  and  growth  the  little  frontier  settlement  came  to  an 
end.  They  might,  perhaps,  have  rebuilt,  in  spite  of  this, 
and  gone  forward  with  a  brave  determination.  But  when, 
on  the  17th  of  April  following,  Sudbury  was  devastated, 
and  several  of  the  Marlborough  men,  who  were  defend- 
ing it,  —  including  Captain  Brocklebank,  commander  of 
the  garrison,  —  lost  their  lives,  the  pioneers  gave  up  the 


KING   PHILIP'S   WAR.  27 

unequal  contest,  left  the  lands  they  had   reclaimed,  and 
retired  to  the  older  towns. 

But  this  war,  which  ended  with  the  death  of  Philip  on 
the  1 2th  of  August  following,  however  seriously  it  weak- 
ened the  English,  broke  forever  the  power  of  the  Indian 
tribes   of  Massachusetts.     It  was    their  last   struggle  for 
life  and  the   possessions  of  their  fathers.     And  however 
much  we  may  deprecate  their  methods,  which  were  simply 
those  of  savage  warfare  everywhere,  we  cannot  severely 
blame  them  for  rising  up  to  strike  one  desperate  blow  for 
the  right  to  live,  and  roam  their  ancient   hunting-fields. 
Only  cowards  could  tamely  submit  to  dispossession  and 
practical    extinction.     The  Indians  were    not  a  specially 
noble  race ;    they  were  apt,  in  the  long  contest  between 
French  and  English   for  the   possession  of  the  land,  to 
fight   on  the  side  that  promised    the   best   pay,  without 
much  sense  of  right  or  much  manifestation  of  manhood. 
They  were  savages.      But  Philip,  quicker   than  the    rest 
to  see  the  meaning  of  the   steady  encroachment  of  the 
whites  upon  his  domain,  with  more  of  the  true  fibre  of  a 
man  in  him  than  most  of  his  contemporaries,  deserves  the 
credit  that  belongs  to  bravery  and  a  true  defence  of  the 
rights   of  freehold.     We   are  not  sorry  he    did  not  suc- 
ceed ;   it  was  better  that  the  higher  race  should  hold  the 
land ;  and  we  have  nothing  but  horror  for  the  treachery 
and  cruelty  of  the  warfare  he  waged :    but  we  need  not 
therefore   forget   that  he  fought  and   died,   like    many   a 
nobler  man,  for  the  rights  he  defended,  and  the  liberty 
and  property  which  he   saw  vanishing  from  him,  —  not 
always    by  fair   means      And  with  him  fell   the   last  de- 
fender of  the  Indian   inheritance.     There  were  none  left 
to  strike  a  blow.     Their  hour  had  come,  and  they  passed 
away  like  a  morning  cloud.     We  hear  little  more  of  the 


28  EARLY   HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Massachusetts  Indians.  Those  who  at  a  later  period  strike 
terror  into  the  people  of  this  region,  are  of  another  stock, 
and,  as  a  rule,  from  the  Canadian  tribes. 

In  Marlborough  there  lingered  for  some  time  an  un- 
equal contest  with  the  little  remnant  of  the  settlement  of 
praying  Indians  concerning  their  lands,  which  ended,  as 
such  contests  always  have  in  this  country,  in  the  posses- 
sion by  the  white  man  of  the  Indian's  freehold.  Then 
they  faded  away.  There  is  from  this  time  no  relic  what- 
ever of  the  Okommokamesit  people.  Indians  have  lived 
in  this  vicinity  since ;  the  Rev.  Joseph  Allen,  who  wrote 
his  sketch  of  Northborough  in  1826,  had  been  told  by 
Capt.  Timothy  Brigham,  then  in  his  ninety-first  year,  of 
one  David  Munnanaw,  whom  Captain  Brigham  had  seen 
in  his  boyhood,  a  survivor  of  Philip's  war,  who  had  taken 
part  against  the  English.  He  lived  in  a  wigwam  on  the 
shore  of  a  pond  near  the  Gates  House,  in  Marlborough. 
One  Abimelech  David,  supposed  to  be  his  son,  with  sev- 
eral daughters,  all  dissipated  and  thievish,  lived  afterward 
in  a  wretched  hovel  under  an  oak  near  the  Warren  Brig- 
ham place.  But  these  were  not  Okommokamesit  Indians, 
but  stragglers  from  the  Hassanemesits.  The  site  of  an 
old  Indian  burying-ground  is  still  visible  near  this  spot. 
The  land  around  it  has  been  ploughed  and  planted 
many  times,  but  one  little  rectangular  area  has  been 
kept  sacredly  free  from  the  touch  of  ploughshare  to  this 
day,  guarded  by  the  tradition  that  it  contains  the  dust  of 
red  men. 


CHAPTER   III. 

1676-1711. 

PRELIMINARY   MOVEMENTS   TOWARD   A  NEW  TOWN.  — 
INDIAN  TROUBLES   DURING   "  QUEEN  ANNE'S   WAR." 

""  I  ^HE  eclipse  of  the  new  settlement  occasioned  by  the 
war  did  not  last  long.  The  pioneer  spirit  was 
strong,  and  the  longing  for  new  lands  could  not  be  sup- 
pressed. In  two  years  from  its  collapse  Marlborough 
was  on  its  feet  again,  and  the  town  organization  was  re- 
sumed, with  twenty-seven  families  as  the  nucleus.  A  tem- 
porary meeting-house,  which  sufficed  them  for  the  next 
eleven  years,  was  raised  on  the  site  of  the  one  burned  by 
the  Indians,  and  affairs  went  on  as  before.  The  western 
part  of  the  settlement  began  to  assume  important  propor- 
tions, and  to  have  a  strong  vote  and  influence  in  town 
affairs.  It  was  growing  up  chiefly  around  Chauncy  Pond, 
and  had  already  taken  the  name  of  Chauncy  Village. 
When  in  1688  Marlborough  proposed  to  build  a  new  meet- 
ing-house, the  Chauncy  people  protested  against  setting  it 
on  the  old  spot,  which  was  too  far  away  for  their  con- 
venience ;  and  Chauncy  was  so  much  of  a  community  that 
the  following  vote  was  carried  in  town  meeting:  — 

"  That  if  the  westerly  part  of  the  town  shall  see  cause  after- 
wards to  build  another  meeting  house,  and  find  itself  able  to  do 
so,  and  to  maintain  a  minister,  then  the  division  to  be  made 
by  a  line  at  the  cart-way  at  Stirrup  Brook,  where  the  Connecti- 
cut way  now  goeth,  and  to  run  a  paralell  line  with  the  west  line 
of  the  bounds  of  the  town." 


30  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

This  was  essentially  the  Hne  of  subsequent  division. 
The  "Connecticut  way"  here  referred  to,  built  not  long 
before  Philip's  war,  ran  from  Marlborough  town  through 
the  present  territory  of  Northborough  and  Shrewsbury, 
crossing  Lake  Quinsigamond  near  its  northern  end, 
and  leading  to  Brookfield  and  the  Connecticut  valley. 
It  probably  determined  the  subsequent  course  of  the 
"country"  (county)  road  of  1730,  and  corresponded, 
partially  at  least,  to  the  present  line  of  road  from 
Marlborough  to  Worcester.  The  junction  of  this  road 
with  Stirrup  Brook  was  near  the  Bartlett  place,  in  the 
edge  of  Marlborough. 

It  will  be  noticed  that  the  vote  above  recorded  has 
the  expression,  "  where  the  Connecticut  way  now  goeth ; " 
this  means  that  there  was  an  earlier  "  Connecticoat  road," 
which,  however,  was  only  a  bridle-path,  which  made  a 
southerly  detour  near  the  present  Marlborough  line,  pass- 
ing, according  to  Allen,  through  the  easterly  part  of 
Northborough,  over  Rock  Hill,  east  of  Great  and  Little 
Chauncy  ponds,  and  so  southwesterly  through  Grafton.  It 
has  been  substantially  followed  in  Lyman  and  Main  streets. 
This  was  doubtless  originally  the  path  between  the  two 
Indian  settlements  of  Okommokamesit  and  Hassanemisco ; 
when  Brookfield  began  to  rise  in  the  wilderness,  the  newer 
way  was  opened. 

At  this  time,  two  hundred  years  ago,  in  spite  of  the 
growth  of  Chauncy,  the  territory  to  which  Westborough 
is  now  restricted  was  still  lonely.  If  at  that  time  one 
had  climbed  the  hill  above  the  Whitney  place,  and  could 
have  found  an  outlook  through  the  forest  that  then  cov- 
ered it,  he  would  have  seen  little  but  unbroken  wilder- 
ness. The  same  rounded  hills  lay  about  him  as  to-day; 
the    same   wooded    crests    swept    around    to    the    north; 


MOVEMENTS   TOWARD   A  NEW  TOWN.  3 1 

Chauncy  Pond  gleamed  through  the  trees  as  fair  as  now ; 
the  meadows  were  as  green ;  Wachusett  and  his  dimly  out- 
lined sentinels  stood  guard  as  proudly  in  the  northwest: 
but  the  signs  of  human  habitation  were  few.  He  might 
catch  a  glimpse  of  a  number  of  houses  that  clustered 
around  the  great  pond,  —  Thomas  Rice's  house,  with  its 
stockade,  lay  just  at  his  feet.  Perhaps,  away  to  the  left, 
hidden  by  the  hills,  were  "  the  houses  of  the  Fays,"  — 
alluded  to  in  a  plan  of  the  territory  made  some  years 
later.  To  the  northeast  rose  the  rude  church  of  Marl- 
borough on  the  hill-top.  And  two  miles  or  so  away,  a 
little  west  of  north,  he  would  have  noticed  two  gently 
rounded  knolls,  partially  wooded,  —  the  one  to  the  west 
sloping  away  to  the  green  meadows  that  lined  the  As- 
sabet.  On  the  slope  of  that  little  hill,  forty  years  later, 
was  to  rise  the  little  homely  meeting-house  of  a  new 
town,  and  close  by  it  the  homestead  of  its  first  pastor. 

The  wilderness  about  him  was  not  as  safe  to  wander 
in  as  now.  Five  years  before,  Marlborough  had  paid  a 
bounty  for  twenty-three  wolves  killed  by  the  settlers. 
Rattlesnakes  infested  the  western  hills  in  such  numbers 
that  the  town  voted,  in  1680, — 

"  To  raise  thirteen  men  to  go  out  to  cil  rattlesnakes,  eight  to 
Cold  Harbor-ward,  and  so  to  the  place  they  cal  boston ;  and  five 
to  Stony  brook-ward  [Southborough],  to  the  places  thereabout. 
John  Brigham  to  cal  out  seven  with  him  to  the  first,  and  Joseph 
Newton  four  with  him  to  the  latter ;  and  they  are  to  have  two 
shillings  apiece  per  day,  paid  out  of  a  town  rates." 

This  "  place  they  cal  boston  "  is  reputed  to  have  been 
"Boston  Hill,"  on  the  Shrewsbury  line,  beyond  Hobomoc 
Pond ;  and  tradition  adds  —  though  not  with  equal  proba- 
bility —  that  the  name  arose  from  the  circumstance  that 
at  some  previous  time  as  many  snakes  had  been  killed 


yz  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

on  that  hill  as  there  were  inhabitants  in  the  young  village 
of  Boston. 

There  is  nothing  to  indicate  that  the  severe  political 
trials  through  which  the  colony  was  passing  at  this  time 
were  greatly  felt  in  this  vicinity.  It  seems  as  though  the 
coast-towns  felt  the  influence  of  the  mother-country  quite 
as  much  as  the  frontier  towns  were  affected  by  the  experi- 
ences of  Boston.  The  chief  foes  of  the  interior  were  the 
wilderness  and  its  savages.  These  men,  being  farmers, 
lacked  the  opportunities  of  the  coast-towns  for  making 
money  by  manufactures  and  commerce.  They  were  also 
saved  from  the  burdens  and  losses  of  heavy  taxes,  prohibi- 
tive tariffs,  and  political  intrigues.  The  life  was  plain  and 
simple,  too  much  occupied  with  unremitting  toil  to  leave 
time  for  great  concern  with  the  affairs  of  State.  The 
journey  to  Boston,  which  could  be  made  only  on  horse- 
back, was  seldom  undertaken,  and  the  lads  from  this 
frontier  would  have  looked  on  with  utter  amazement  at 
the  fine  sights  and  gay  attire  of  the  provincial  city. 
Nor  were  their  fathers  more  disturbed  at  the  endeavors 
of  royalists  to  import  Church  of  England  worship,  or 
at  the  appearance  of  new  and  strange  forms  of  belief 
and  practice  that  sprang  up  in  the  coast-towns ;  for  they 
were  too  far  away  to  know  much  about  them.  Even  the 
struggle  with  the  English  Government  and  the  loss  of 
the  charter  of  the  colony  in  1684  seem  to  have  scarcely 
disturbed  the  quiet  of  the  life  here,  which  was  wholly 
turned  to  the  effort  required  to  regain  the  losses  of  the 
Indian  war. 

Thus  the  years  went  by,  in  patient  struggle  with  the 
wilderness,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  from  the  time  of  the 
return.  But  at  length  Chauncy  has  attained  a  growth 
which  makes  it  long  for  rights  and  privileges  of  its  own. 


MOVEMENTS   TOWARD   A  NEW  TOWN.  33 

There  are  more  fair  lands  to  the  west  waiting  for  occu- 
pancy, if  only  there  were  a  meeting-house  in  the  vicinity 
and  enough  of  the  privileges  of  a  town  to  attract  new 
settlers.  Accordingly,  the  year  1702  saw  the  birth  of  a 
definite  effort  to  found  a  new  town.  Chauncy  had  not 
forgotten  the  vote  of  1688,  above  referred  to,  and  the  peti- 
tion which  was  sent  up  to  the  General  Court  was  based 
upon  it.  This,  which  is  called,  for  convenience,  Henry 
Kerly's  petition,  was  as  follows:  — 

"To  her  Maj''""  Hon'''"  Councill  &c.  Humbly  Sheweth:  — 
That  whereas  the  town  of  Marlborough,  in  their  first  settlement 
of  their  Plantacion,  seated  their  town  towards  the  westerly  end 
of  said  Plantacion,  and  since  hath  laid  out  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  the  land  on  the  westerly  part  into  Lotts :  the  inhabitants 
considering  that  much  of  their  land,  both  upland  and  meadow, 
would  be  very  Proper  and  Convenient  for  settling  upon,  only 
remote  from  any  meeting, — 

"Therefore,  for  Jncouragement  of  people  to  settle  there,  the 
s*  Town  of  Marlborough  on  the  21st  day  of  May,  1688,  did 
grant  Liberty  to  build  a  Meeting  House,  and  forthwith  staked 
out  bounds  there  for  a  village  to  be  settled  ;  through  which 
Jncouragement  a  considerable  number  of  families  are  already 
settled  thereon,  who  find  a  difficulty  and  inconveniency  in  the 
want  of  a  Meeting  House,  and  being  so  remote  from  any,  and 
Likewise  Considering  y'  there  are  several  farms  and  Vacant 
Lands  in  the  Country  adjacent  to  it  sufficient  to  make  a 
village,  — 

"  Therefore  we  your  Humble  Petitioners  do  pray  for  an  Jn- 
largement;  That  from  the  Westerly  bounds  of  Marlborough 
Town  the  said  new  settlement  which  is  called  Chauncy,  may 
be  extended  to  Consigamack  [Quinsigamond]  Pond,  and  to  a 
parallel  line  to  Marlborough  west  line  while  it  comes  to  Has- 
sanessit,  the  Indian  Plantation,  and  so  to  run  the  full  breadth 
of  five  miles  until  it  comes  to  Hassanessitt,  and  so  cutting  upon 
that  Plantation  ;  also  a  mile  in  breadth  on  the  southerly  side 
from   Sudbury  River  to  the  Indian   bounds  before  mentioned  ; 

3 


34  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

we  desiring  all  bounds  of  land  to  stand  as  they  are  already 
settled,  and  the  vacant  lands  to  be  for  the  benefit  of  the  place, 
and  the  farms  to  do    duty  and  take  privelege  amongst  us ;  & 
y'  Humble  Petitioners  shall  forever  pray  &c. 
{Signed  by) 

Henry  Kerly  Richard  Barnes 

Nathan  Brigham  Samuel  Brigham 

Jacob  Rice  John  Mainerd  Jr. 

Joseph  Rice  Anna  Ward 

Increase  Ward  James  Rice 

Josiah  Hawes  Tho^.  Brigham 

Sam':  Goodnow  Eliezer  How 

Edmund  Rice  David  Mainerd 

Thomas  ffurbush  Joseph  Witherby 

Sam':  ffurbush  Isaac  Thomlin 

John  ffay  Samuel  ffay 
John  Brigham. 

This  tract  included  not  only  the  present  territory  of 
Westborough  and  Northborough,  but  the  whole  of  Shrews- 
bury and  the  major  part  of  Boylston,  together  with  a  wide 
strip  from  the  northern  section  of  Grafton.  It  was  not  all 
unclaimed  land,  by  any  means.  More  than  five  thousand 
acres  beyond  the  present  western  line  had  come  into 
English  hands.  Of  this  the  greater  part  was  owned  by  the 
Haynes  family,  already  mentioned,  and  at  the  very  time 
of  Henry  Kerly's  petition  was  in  litigation  before  the 
General  Court.  The  original  Haynes  brothers,  who  pur- 
chased the  thirty-two  hundred  acres  of  Mrs.  Nowell  in 
1657,  having  died,  the  property  was  divided  among  the 
heirs.  John  and  Peter,  sons  of  John,  senior,  petitioned 
the  Court  for  the  confirmation  to  them  of  additional  land, 
which  they  claimed  to  have  purchased  of  the  Indians. 
John  Brigham,  who  had  married  the  daughter  of  Josiah 
Haynes,  put  in  a  counter  petition,  showing  by  a  plan  of 


MOVEMENTS   TOWARD   A  NEW  TOWN.  35 

the  territory  that  his  access  to  certain  meadow-lands 
would  be  cut  off  if  the  petition  of  the  other  heirs  was 
granted.  It  may  have  been  the  unsettled  state  of  these 
claims  which  prevented  the  granting  of  the  Kerly  peti- 
tion. At  any  rate,  it  was  not  granted,  and  the  "village" 
of  Chauncy  remained  as  it  had  been,  a  part  of  the  town 
of  Marlborough,  for  fifteen  years  longer. 

One  farther  step  was  taken,  meantime,  by  the  grant,  on 
the  13th  of  March,  1709,  from  the  Proprietors  of  Marl- 
borough, of  fifty  acres  of  land  "  for  the  benefit  of  the 
Ministry  in  the  westerly  end  of  Marlborough,  called 
Chauncy  village."  It  consisted  of  forty  acres  of  upland 
and  swamp  west  of  Chauncy  Pond,  and  ten  acres  of 
meadow  "at  the  west  end  of  Great  Middle  Meadow,  near 
Hobamoka  pond."  This  remained  a  part  of  the  "  minis- 
terial farm "  until  Westborough  and  Northborough  were 
divided,  and  was  not  sold  until   1784. 

Shortly  after  the  Kerly  petition  the  perils  of  life  in  the 
wilderness  received  a  new  illustration.  During  the  twenty- 
five  years  that  had  gone  by  since  the  war  with  Philip, 
the  settlers  had  been  unmolested.  The  heroes  of  that 
war  had  become  veterans,  and  the  children  had  grown 
up  and  were  cultivating  farms,  unterrified  by  the  savage 
war-whoop.  Life  was  hard  enough  without  that,  to  be 
sure;  one  wonders  at  the  irrepressible  desire  that  these 
men  had  to  maintain  their  struggle  with  the  wilderness, 
and  the  utter  absence  of  any  wish  to  fall  back  upon  the 
older  towns,  or  try  the  comparative  luxury  of  life  on  the 
coast.  But  the  pioneer  fever  was  upon  them  strongly,  and 
privation  and  danger  seemed  only  to  stimulate  their  hardy 
spirits.  Now,  however,  came  new  troubles.  Though  the 
Massachusetts  Indians  had  disappeared,  there  were  forces 
at  work  in  the  far  North  creating  deep  hostility   in  the 


36  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBO ROUGH. 

Indian  tribes  of  those  regions ;  and  at  about  this  period 
bands  of  them,  instigated  by  the  French,  began  to  come 
southward,  and  to  prowl  about  these  settlements.  It  was 
an  incident  in  the  history  of  what  is  known  as  "  Queen 
Anne's  war,"  which  was  itself  but  an  incident  in  the  long 
struggle  between  England  and  France  for  the  possession 
of  the  New  World.  The  French  in  Canada  made  great 
use  of  the  Indians,  —  as,  for  that  matter,  the  English  did 
also,  as  they  found  opportunity;  and  it  added  untold  hor- 
rors to  the  history  of  the  struggle.  After  the  disastrous 
failure  of  the  attack  of  the  New  England  forces  on  Que- 
bec in  1690,  there  was  an  outbreak  of  hostility  from  that 
quarter  which  made  the  New  England  settlers  realize 
for  the  first  time  what  they  aftei-ward  became  so  wearily 
familiar  with,  —  the  terrors  of  a  "French  and  Indian  war." 
Queen  Anne's  war  broke  out  in  1702;  and  two  years 
later  began  that  series  of  Indian  raids  which  is  so  mem- 
orable in  the  annals  of  the  time,  when  Deerfield  and 
Haverhill  were  devastated  with  a  cold-blooded  barbarity 
which  has  never  ceased  to  make  men  shudder.  In  July, 
1704,  a  body  of  six  or  seven  hundred  French  and  In- 
dians, foiled  in  an  attempt  to  destroy  Northampton, 
came  eastward  and  attacked  Lancaster.  Capt.  Thomas 
Howe,  of  Marlborough,  gathering  what  force  he  could, 
marched  to  the  relief  of  his  neighbors ;  but  the  English 
were  defeated  and  driven  into  the  garrison,  and  the  town 
was  desolated. 

On  the  8th  of  August  following,  Chauncy  had  its  share 
in  the  common  terror.  In  the  hot  summer  day  some  men 
and  boys  were  at  work  in  the  field  just  this  side  of  the 
Whitney  place,  spreading  flax.  The  hill  rose  above  them 
to  the  south,  covered  then  with  a  thick  growth  of  trees. 
Suddenly,   before    any  one    of  them    could   turn    himself 


INDIAN  TROUBLES.  37 

or  know  what  had  happened,  a  party  of  eight  or  ten  In- 
dians had  rushed  down  from  the  hill  and  seized  the  boys. 
Little  Nahor  Rice,  only  five  years  old,  was  summarily 
disposed  of  in  true  Indian  fashion,  by  having  his  brains 
dashed  out  on  a  rock;  four  others,  from  seven  to  ten 
years  old,  were  "  captivated,"  as  the  quaint  record  has  it, 
and  carried  off  to  the  woods,  while  the  rest  of  the  party 
escaped  in  panic  to  the  garrison-house  of  Thomas  Rice, 
which  was  close  by.  Of  the  captives,  Asher,  aged  ten, 
and  Adonijah,  aged  eight,  were  Thomas  Rice's  sons ;  the 
others,  Silas  and  Timothy,  nine  and  seven  years  old,  as 
well  as  Nahor,  who  was  killed,  were  sons  of  Edmund 
Rice,  a  second  cousin  of  Thomas,  who  lived  near  what 
has  since  been  called  Willow  Park.  The  little  boy  Nahor 
is  said  to  have  been  the  first  English  person  buried 
within  the  limits  of  the  present  town. 

It  was  a  sad  day  for  these  pioneers.  Five  tiny  lads  gone 
at  a  stroke,  one  to  cruel  death,  the  others  to  a  captivity 
more  dreaded  than  death !  There  were  grim  faces  around 
the  firesides  that  night  as  the  men  thought  and  plotted  for 
rescue  and  vengeance ;  and  the  mothers,  poor  things,  un- 
likely to  get  much  soothing  from  the  stern-browed  men, 
and  accustomed  to  regard  all  such  calamity,  in  the  Puri- 
tanic fashion,  as  the  sign  of  God's  ill-will  to  them,  had 
many  a  long  day  of  silent  pain.  The  boys  were  taken  to 
Canada,  to  wait  for  ransom,  or  to  be  trained  in  the  Indian 
life  and  warfare.  Measures  were  taken  to  rescue  them,  but 
without  much  fruit.  Four  years  later,  through  the  efforts 
of  Colonel  Lydius,  of  Albany,  Asher  was  redeemed  by  his 
father,  and  returned  home.  He  was,  however,  so  broken 
by  the  shock  he  had  received  at  the  time  of  his  seizure 
that  he  never  fully  recovered  from  it.  He  lived  at  home 
until  he  married,  when  he  removed  to  Spencer.     He  was 


38  EARLY   HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

a  very  eccentric  man,  "  a  little  teched,"  as  the  phrase  used 
to  be.  He  spent  a  great  deal  of  effort  in  making  a  grist- 
mill on  a  new  plan,  so  that  the  upper  stone  should  be 
fixed,  while  the  lower  one  revolved.  This,  he  insisted,  was 
the  only  natural  way,  for  in  the  human  mouth,  v/hich  was 
evidently  the  original  corn-mill,  it  was  the  lower  jaw  that 
did  the  work.  But  men  laughed  quietly  at  his  oddities,  for 
they  pitied  him.  Some  remains  of  the  Indian  habits  which 
he  had  gained  in  his  four  years  life  in  a  wigwam  always 
clung  to  him.  And  the  fear  of  the  red-men  never  left  him. 
Daily  he  dreaded  the  possibility  of  their  approach;  and 
long  after  all  danger  had  passed  away,  he  built  stockades, 
and  tried  to  be  prepared  in  case  of  an  attack.  He  had  a 
son  Asher,  born  in  1734,  who  died  in  Spencer  in  1823,  in 
his  ninetieth  year;  and  he  has,  or  had  a  few  years  ago, 
descendants  still  living  there. 

Adonijah,  his  younger  brother,  was  never  redeemed,  but 
grew  up  in  Canada,  though  he  did  not  remain  all  his  life 
among  the  Indians.  He  became  sufficiently  one  of  them, 
however,  to  bear  among  them  the  name  of  Asaundugoo- 
ton.  Afterward  he  married  twice,  —  first  a  Frenchwoman, 
and  the  second  time  a  Dutchwoman,  —  and  became  the 
owner  of  a  good  farm  near  Montreal,  on  the  north  side 
of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

The  two  sons  of  Edmund  Rice,  Silas  and  Timothy,  grew 
up  in  the  Indian  wigwams,  lost  their  mother-tongue,  and 
became  essentially  savages.  Of  Silas  we  know  nothing, 
except  that  he  married  an  Indian  squaw  and  was  called 
Tookanowras.  But  Timothy,  the  seven-year-old  boy,  had 
qualities  of  his  own,  inherited  from  a  sturdy  generation, 
which  could  not  be  consigned  to  oblivion  even  in  an 
Indian  wigwam,  or  under  the  rather  discouraging  name 
of  Oughtzorongoughton.     He  was   adopted   in   the  place 


INDIAN  TROUBLES.  39 

of  his  own  son,  who  had  died,  by  a  chief  of  the  Cana- 
wagas,  a  tribe  of  the  Iroquois  converted  by  the  French 
Jesuit  missionaries,  and  settled  near  Montreal;  and  thus 
had  a  better  opportunity  than  often  fell  to  the  lot  of  a 
captive.  The  Rev.  Ebenezer  Parkman  wrote  in  1769,  after 
some  acquaintance  with  the  persons  and  the  facts :  — 

"Timothy  had  much  recommended  himself  to  the  Indians  by 
his  superior  talents,  his  penetration,  courage,  strength,  and  war- 
like spirit,  for  which  he  was  much  celebrated,  —  as  was  evident 
to  me  from  conversation  with  the  late  Sachem  Kendrick  and 
Mr.  Kellog  when  they  were  in  Massachusetts.  He  himself, 
in  process  of  time,  came  to  see  us.  By  the  interposition  of 
Colonel  Lydius  and  the  captive  Tarbell,  who  was  carried  away 
from  Groton,  a  letter  was  sent  me,  bearing  date  July  23,  1740, 
certifying  that  if  one  of  their  brethren  would  go  up  to  Albany, 
and  be  there  at  a  time  specified,  they  would  meet  him  there,  and 
one  of  them  at  least  would  come  hither  to  visit  his  friends  in 
New  England.  The  chief  abovesaid  came,  and  the  said  Mr. 
Tarbell  with  him,  as  interpreter  and  companion.  They  arrived 
here  September  15th.  They  viewed  the  house  where  Mr.  Rice 
dwelt,  and  the  place  from  which  the  children  were  captivated,  of 
both  which  he  retained  a  clear  remembrance,  as  he  did  likewise 
of  several  elderly  people  then  living,  though  he  had  forgot  our 
language.  [It  was  thirty-six  years  after  the  capture.]  His 
Excellency  Governor  Belcher  sent  for  them,  who  accordingly 
waited  on  him  at  Boston.  They  also  visited  Tarbell's  relatives 
at  Groton ;  then  returned  to  us  on  their  way  back  to  Albany 
and  Canada.  Colonel  Lydius,  when  at  Boston  not  long  since, 
said  this  Rice  was  the  chief  who  made  the  speech  to  General 
Gage  which  we  had  in  our  public  prints,  in  behalf  of  the  Cana- 
wagas,  soon  after  the  reduction  of  Montreal." 

The  Rev.  Peter  Whitney  adds  that  "When  the  old  In- 
dian sachem  Ountassogo,  chief  of  the  Canawagas,  at  the 
conference  with  Governor  Belcher  at  Deerfield,  made  a 
visit  to  Boston,  he  stopped  a  while  in  Westborough  ; 
and  Asher  Rice  saw  him,  and  knew  him  to   be  one  of 


40  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

the  Indians  who  rushed  down  the  hill  when  he  was  taken 
by  them." 

Another  Indian  raid  occurred  three  years  later,  on  the 
1 8th  of  August,  1707,  on  the  farm  of  Samuel  Goodnow, 
who  had  settled  on  Stirrup  Brook,  on  the  north  road  from 
Northborough  to  Marlborough.  Mary  Goodnow,  his 
daughter,  and  Mrs.  Mary  Fay,  wife  of  Gershom  Fay, 
whose  farm  was  near  by,  were  gathering  herbs  in  a  field, 
when  twenty-four  Indian  warriors  rushed  from  the  woods. 
Mrs.  Fay  ran  for  the  house  of  Mr.  Goodnow,  which  was 
a  garrison-house,  and  reached  it  safely.  Mary  Goodnow, 
being  lame,  was  overtaken  and  made  captive.  The  neigh- 
borhood was  at  once  aroused,  and  so  vigorous  an  attack 
was  made  that  the  Indians  were  quickly  routed,  and  ran, 
leaving  their  twenty-four  packs  behind  them.  Enraged, 
however,  by  their  defeat,  and  finding  that  the  girl's  lame- 
ness prevented  her  rapid  flight  with  them,  they  killed 
and  scalped  her  a  few  rods  beyond  Stirrup  Brook.  Her 
body  was  found  by  her  friends  shortly  afterward,  and 
buried  where  it  fell.  Mrs.  Fay,  on  reaching  the  garrison- 
house,  had  found  only  one  man  there ;  but  by  their  heroic 
exertions,  she  loading  and  he  firing,  they  kept  the  Indians 
at  bay  until  help  arrived. 

On  account  of  these  recurring  dangers  the  town  of 
Marlborough  in  171 1  increased  the  number  of  garrison- 
houses  to  twenty-six,  assigning  to  each  a  certain  number 
of  families  in  the  vicinity,  who  were,  in  case  of  danger, 
to  take  refuge  in  them  and  defend  them.  Among  these 
were  the  houses  of  Thomas  and  Edmund  Rice,  both 
within  the  limits  of  the  present  VVestborough.  Those  of 
Samuel  Goodnow  and  Thomas  Brigham,  which  were  also 
among  those  garrisoned,  were  within  the  precincts  of  the 
original  town. 


INDIAN  TROUBLES.  4I 

The  spot  where  Nahor  Rice  was  killed  is  still  known 
approximately,  and  the  grave  of  Mary  Goodnow  in 
Northborough  definitely.  It  would  help  to  preserve  the 
early  memorials  of  New  England  history  if  these  spots 
were  marked  by  a  rude  bowlder  with  the  name  cut 
in  deep  characters,  and  held  sacred  thereafter  against 
the  encroachments  of  the  too  irreverent  enterprise  of 
modern  times. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

1711-1723. 

INCORPORATION,   AND   BEGINNINGS   OF   TOWN   LIFE. 

IN  17 13  the  peace  of  Utrecht  put  a  temporary  check  on 
Indian  depredations.  The  loss  of  the  colonies,  from 
1675  to  1 713,  is  estimated  at  nearly  six  thousand  men; 
and  yet  they  were  by  no  means  crippled.  Still  less  was 
the  brave  pioneer  spirit  broken.  No  sooner  was  the  im- 
mediate danger  over  than  their  enterprise  broke  forth 
again  in  the  effort  to  establish  new  towns  and  push  civili- 
zation westward ;  and  the  years  immediately  following  the 
establishment  of  peace  were  marked  by  an  unusual  num- 
ber of  applications  for  incorporation.  Among  these  was 
one  from  certain  inhabitants  of  Marlborough,  signed  by 
Isaac  Amsden  and  sixty-six  others,  which  resulted  soon 
after  in  the  incorporation  of  Westborough. 

This  petition  was  probably  presented  to  the  General 
Court  at  the  session  of  17 16.  The  document  itself  is  lost; 
but  an  undated  plan  of  the  territory,  which  probably  ac- 
companied it,  is  in  the  archives  at  the  State  House.  The 
petition  asked  for  the  erection  of  a  new  town  out  of 
the  western  part  of  Marlborough,  and  including  some 
eighteen  hundred  acres  west  of  Marlborough,  afterward 
assigned  to  Shrewsbury.  It  immediately  drew  out  a 
counter  petition  from  John  Brigham  and  thirty  others, 
received  in  Court  Nov.  23,  1716,  praying  for  "  ungranted 


INCORPORATION.  43 

lands  between  Lancaster,  Sutton,  Marlborough,  Worcester, 
Hassanamisco,  and  Bridgham's  farm,  ...  to  be  erected 
into  a  town."  This  was  the  first  movement  toward  the 
incorporation  of  Shrewsbury.  As  these  two  petitions  in- 
terfered with  each  other,  it  was  ordered  that  Mr.  Brigham 
and  his  fellow-petitioners  should  prepare  a  plan  of  the 
land  desired,  and  that  the  Marlborough  petition  should 
be  continued  to  the  next  session,  in  order  that  it  might 
be  determined  more  clearly  what  measures  would  best 
promote  the  public  welfare. 

In  the  May  following,  John  Brigham  had  his  plan  ready ; 
and  Samuel  Thaxter,  John  Chandler,  and  Jonathan  Rem- 
ington, Esq.,  were  appointed  a  committee  of  the  General 
Court  "to  view  the  land  and  inquire  into  the  circumstances 
of  the  petitioners,"  etc.,  and  to  see  "whether,  if  the  petition 
of  the  Inhabitants  of  Marlborough  for  a  Part  of  the  said 
land  be  granted,  the  Remainder  of  the  said  tract  will 
not  be  thereby  disadvantaged  for  a  Township."  This  was 
quite  a  necessary  inquiry,  for  the  land-seekers  of  that  time 
had  a  shrewd  eye  to  their  own  interests.  The  committee 
reported  June  19,  favoring  the  grant  for  Shrewsbury^  — 

"  provided  the  Court  allow  to  the  Westerly  part  of  Marlborough 
a  line  to  be  continued  from  the  Westerly  bounds  of  Lieut.  Rice's 
farm,  until  it  meets  with  Fay's  farm,  and  then  to  bound  by  said 
Fay's  farm  according  to  the  lines  thereof,  until  it  meet  with 
Sutton  line  on  the  Southward  ;  and  from  the  Northwest  corner 
of  said  Rice's  land  to  run  upon  a  strait  line  to  a  heap  of 
stones,  called  Warner's  corner,  which  is  the  most  easterly  corner 
of  Haynes'  farm,  by  the  country  road ;  and  including  therein 
the  land  which  the  report  of  Samuel  Thaxter,  Esq.,  &  dated 
June  19,  proposes  should  be  laid  to  them,  and  present  it  to 
this  Court  for  allowance." 

In  the  House  of  Representatives,  Oct.  31,  17 17,  the 
petition  was  read, — 


44  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

"  Shewing  that  a  confiderable  Number  of  the  Inhabitants  of  the 
said  Town  have  settled  themselves  in  the  Westerly  Part  of  said 
Town,  where  they  are  at  a  considerable  distance  from  the  Place 
of  publick  Worship,  and  ill  accommodated  to  attend  it  in  the  said 
Place,  and  therefore  Praying  that  the  said  Westerly  Part  may  be 
fett  off  as  a  Precinct  or  Township,  and  certain  lands  lying  near 
them  taken  into  the  said  Precinct  or  Township.'* 

It  was  — 

"  Ordered  that  the  Petitioners  prepare  a  Plat,  taken  by  an  able 
Surveyor,  of  the  Land  which  they  desire,  and  [which]  the  town  of 
Marlborough  agree  should  be  sett  off  &  made  a  feparate  Town- 
ship, including  therein  the  Land  which  the  report  of  Samuel 
Thaxter,  Esq.,  &c.,  Dated  June  19,  proposes  should  be  laid 
to  them,  and  present  it  to  this  Court  for  Allowance." 

A  drawing  of  the  territory  desired  had  already  been 
presented  to  the  Court  with  the  petition  of  Isaac  Amsden  ; 
but  it  was  not  drawn  with  exactness,  and  it  claimed  some 
eighteen  hundred  acres  more  than  the  committee  recom- 
mended the  Court  to  grant.  A  new  survey  was  made  by 
William  Ward,  correcting  the  boundaries  and  conforming 
to  the  committee's  report,  a  copy  of  which  is  here  shown. 
This  plan  represents  the  exact  area  originally  incorporated. 
The  record  of  incorporation  is  as  follows  :  — 

Monday,  Nov.  18,  1717. 

A  plat  of  the  Westerly  Part  of  Marlborough,  called  Chauncy, 
presented  by  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  General  Court  to 
view  &  make  Report  of  the  said  Land  unto  the  said  Court. 

In  the  House  of  Represent'"'^  Nov.  15,  Resolved  that  the 
Tract  of  Land  contained  and  described  in  this  Plat  be  erected 
into  a  Township,  &  called  by  the  Name  of  Westborough.  The 
Inhabitants  to  have  and  enjoy  all  Powers,  Privileges,  &  Immu- 
nities whatsoever,  as  other  towns  have  and  do  enjoy,  and  that 
the  ungranted  Lands  lying  within  the  same  (Containing  about 
Three  Thousand  Acres),  be  granted  to  the  said   Inhabitants, 


BEGINNINGS   OF  TOWN   LIFE.  45 

They  paying  for  the  same  as  the  Committee,  appointed  by  this 
Court  this  session  for  settling  the  Lands  of  the  new  Township 
that  is  contiguous  [Shrewsbury],  shall  order.  And  that  out  of 
the  said  lands  there  be  reserved  a  suitable  and  convenient  Lott 
for  the  first  settled  Minister,  Which  Lott  the  said  Committee 
shall  sett  out. 

Sent  up  for  Concurrence.  Read  and  Concurred.  Con- 
sented to,  Sam'-'-  Shute. 

This  was  the  hundredth  town  in  Massachusetts. 

The  committee  to  whom  was  referred  the  matter  of 
compensation,  consisting  of  Samuel  Thaxter,  Jonathan 
Remington,  and  Francis  Fulham,  reported,  Jan.  20,  17 19, 
"that  the  inhabitants  of  VVestboro  pay  for  the  land  granted 
by  the  Court,  besides  100  acres  laid  out  for  a  minister, 
amounting,  besides  farms,  to  2207  a.,  ;^8o  lawful  money. 
To  be  paid,  in  4  equal  payments,  on  or  before  the  first 
day  of  June,  1723." 

So  from  this  time  there  is  a  Westborough  in  fact  as  well 
as  in  prospect,  and  the  days  of  "Chauncy"  are  numbered. 
No  more  slow  toiling  over  the  plain  and  up  the  hill  to  the 
Marlborough  meeting-house  on  Sundays  and  town-meeting 
days.  The  settlers  of  this  area  would  have  a  rallying 
place  of  their  own,  and  employ  their  own  preacher  and 
levy  their  own  taxes.  They  were  not,  indeed,  looking  for- 
ward, after  the  fashion  of  the  modern  town  in  the  West, 
to  a  speedy  arrival  of  long  trains  of  immigrants,  or  to 
the  erection  of  sumptuous  court-houses  and  seven-storied 
hotels,  or  to  an  immediate  rise  in  the  value  of  corner  lots 
that  would  make  the  original  holders  of  land  wealthy 
while  they  slept.  The  conditions  of  pioneering  then  and 
now  had  little  in  common.  The  buildings  they  were  to 
raise  were  of  the  homeliest ;  the  growth  of  the  town  would 
be  very  slow,  —  for  more  than  thirty  years  the  number  of 


46  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

families  would  not  exceed  one  hundred ;  nevertheless,  with 
the  means  at  their  disposal  and  the  modest  expectations 
they  cherished,  they  had  made  a  good  step  forward,  and 
felt  the  thrill  of  new  hopes  and  freshened  ambitions. 

According  to  a  statement  by  the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Park- 
man,  the  first  minister  of  Westborough,^  "  the  first  families 
of  Westboro  were  twenty-seven;  all  the  first  settlers  were 
about  forty."  On  the  fly-leaf  of  his  Church-records  he  has 
recorded  the  names  of  the  first  inhabitants  as  follows ;  — 

Thomas  Rice.  Thomas  Newton. 

Charles  Rice.  Josiah  Newton. 

John  Fay.  Hezekiah  Howe. 

Samuel  Fay.  Daniel  Warrin. 

Thomas  Forbush.  Increase  Ward. 

David  Maynard.  Benjamin  Townsend. 

Edmund  Rice.  Nathaniel  Oakes. 

David  Brigham.  Samuel  Goodnow. 

Capt.  Joseph  Byles.  Gershom  Fay. 

James  Bradish.  Simeon  Howard. 

John  Pratt.  Adam  Holloway. 

John  Pratt,  Jr.  Thomas  Ward. 

Joseph  Wheeler. 
Young  Men.  —  John  Maynard,  James  Maynard,  Aaron  For- 
bush, Jacob  Amsden,  Eleazer  Beaman,  and  Jotham  Brigham. 

This  list  gives  but  twenty-five  heads  of  families ;  the  re- 
maining two  were  perhaps  Isaac  Tomblin  and  James  Eager. 

It  would  be  very  interesting  to  determine  the  relative 
situation  of  each  of  these  first  families  of  Westborough ; 
but  it  can  be  done  only  partially .^  Thomas  Rice,  with 
his  son  Charles,  were,  as  we  have  seen,  a  little  south- 
west of  the  village.  John  Fay  and  his  brother  Samuel 
were  on  the  "Fay  farm,"  —  the  latter  on  the  Miletus 
Henry  place,  the  former  on  the  Austin  Howe  place.     The 

1  Mass.  Hist.  Soc.  Rec,  ist  series,  vol.  x.         '^  See  Appendix. 


BEGINNINGS   OF  TOWN   LIFE.  47 

exact  spot  where  Thomas  Forbush  settled,  I  am  unable 
to  determine;  his  brother  Jonathan,  in  whose  family  the 
name  became  changed  to  Forbes,  is  not  mentioned  in  this 
list  of  first  settlers,  but  was  here  very  early,  joining  the 
Church  in  1727;  he  lived  at  first  near  Stirrup  Brook. 
David  Maynard's  farm  was  somewhere  near  the  line  of 
the  present  Northborough  Road ;  and  John  Maynard,  his 
nephew,  who  married  in  17 19,  settled  down  near  the 
first  meeting-house.  Edmund  Rice  was  also  near  the  old 
meeting-house.  David  Brigham  held  the  farm  which  now 
constitutes  the  State  hospital  grounds,  and  five  hundred 
acres  besides ;  his  house  stood  about  sixty  rods  east  of 
the  hospital  buildings.  Capt.  Joseph  Byles  was  south 
of  Chauncy  Pond.  John  Pratt  was  assigned  to  Thomas 
Rice's  garrison,  and  lived  on  the  "  old  mill  road." 
Thomas  Newton  is  reputed  to  have  held  the  Josiah  W. 
Blake  farm.  Daniel  Warren  was  on  the  eastern  border 
of  "  the  Plain,"  and  his  farm  included  the  land  of  the  late 
George  Harrington,  Seleucus  Warren,  S.  A.  Harrington, 
and  perhaps  more.  Increase  Ward  was  in  Northborough, 
on  the  river,  where  he  had  a  saw-mill.  Benjamin  Towns- 
end  was  near  Chauncy  Pond.  Nathaniel  Oakes  lived  in 
Northborough,  on  the  farm  afterward  owned  by  John 
Martyn  and  Peter  Whitney.  Samuel  Goodnow  lived  just 
west  of  Stirrup  Brook,  on  the  road  to  Marlborough. 
Gershom  Fay  was  near  by.  Simeon  Howard  was  near 
Northborough  village.  (Allen  says  "near  the  Morse  house, 
on  land  of  Mr,  Asa  Fay.")  Adam  Holloway  was  in  the 
north  part  of  Northborough.  Thomas  Ward  was  on  the 
Asaph  Rice  place ;  Isaac  Tomblin  on  the  farm  of  Dea. 
Isaac  Davis ;  Joseph  Wheeler  on  the  southern  declivity 
of  Ball's  Hill. 

The  vicinity  of  Chauncy  Pond  was   both   the   natural 


48  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

centre  of  the  area  of  the  new  town,  and  also  the  most 
thickly  settled  portion.  Here,  for  the  first  thirty  years  of 
its  history,  is  laid  the  scene  of  chief  interest.  Nearly  a 
hundred  years  later,  when  the  great  lines  of  stages  made 
the  turnpike  busy,  and  Wessonville  Tavern  became  the 
focus  of  activity,  this  same  old  centre  seemed  about  to 
regain  its  prominence.  But  the  necessity  that  the  public 
buildings  should  be  in  the  most  convenient  place  for  all 
the  inhabitants,  and  later  the  construction  of  the  railroad, 
have  determined  the  permanent  situation  of  the  village 
where  it  is  to-day.  Standing  on  the  pleasant  slopes  to 
the  westward  of  the  old  meeting-house,  one  feels  that 
something  of  picturesqueness  and  beauty  has  been  given 
up  in  the  change.  But  remembering  the  advantages  to 
a  town  of  having  one  village  at  its  natural  centre  instead 
of  half  a  dozen  scattered  over  its  territory,  producing 
divided  interests  and  jealousies,  one  is  more  easily  recon- 
ciled to  the  exchange  of  picturesqueness  for  utility,  and 
of  the  ancient  Chauncy  for  the  modern  Westborough. 

A  month  after  the  incorporation  of  the  town,  the  first 
warrant  was  issued  for  a  town-meeting,  which  was  held  on 
the  15th  of  January,  171 8.  The  quaint  record  is  herewith 
literally  transcribed :  — 

"firstly,  Refolved  to  Build  a  meetting  house  forth  with. 

"  2ly.  Voted,  the  meeting  house  to  Be  fourty  foot  Long,  and 
thirty  foot  wid,  and  Eighteen  foot  Betwen  Joints. 

"3ly.  Voted  to  Choufe  a  Committee  to  proced  to  Getting 
timber  as  may  Be  nefefsary,  forth  with  to  Be  procured. 

"  4ly.  John  Pratt,  Sener,  Thomas  Newton,  and  Daniel  Warrin 
wear  chofen  a  Committee  for  the  work  a  Bove  fd,  and  to  Deter- 
mine the  wages  for  men  whom  thay  see  meet  to  Imploy. 

"5ly.  Voted  to  Chufe  Committee  to  wait  on  the  Re^''  Mr. 
Elmer,  and  to  treat  to  Continue  to  Be  our  minifter,  and  to  pro- 
ceed for  his  Comfortable  Subfestenc,  As  thay  Shal  See  meet. 


BEGINNINGS   OF  TOWN  LIFE.  49 

"61y.  Isaac  Tomblin,  Thomas  Newton,  John  fay,  are  Choufen 
a  Commete  for  the  work  of  the  fifth  note. 

"  7ly.  John  fay  was  Chosen  Town  Clark. 

"Sly.  Thomas  Rice,  Sener,  Chose  the  first  Seelect  man  ;  John 
fay  and  Semeion  Hayward,  Sener,  chosen  Seelectmen ;  lastly, 
Dauied  manayard  chosen  Constable." 

The  first  action  of  the  town  was  thus  mainly  in  the 
interest  of  its  ecclesiastical  institutions.  It  illustrates  the 
uniform  practice  of  the  time.  It  was  among  the  early- 
laws  of  the  Governor  and  Company  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
approved  by  King  William  in  1692,  that  every  town  should 
be  constantly  provided  with  "  an  able,  learned,  and  ortho- 
dox minister,  or  ministers,  of  good  conversation,  to  dis- 
pense the  word  of  God  to  them."  This  merely  expressed 
the  profound  conviction  of  the  leaders  in  the  colony  that 
religion  was  the  corner-stone  of  civil  life.  But  they  went 
farther  than  that.  Sixty  years  before  the  passage  of  the 
law  just  cited,  the  General  Court  had  ordered  that  "  no  man 
shall  be  admitted  to  the  freedom  of  this  body  politic  but 
such  as  are  members  of  some  of  the  Churches  within  the 
limits  of  the  same."  It  was  not  only  religion,  but  a  Church, 
on  which  the  State  was  to  be  built ;  and  not  only  a  Church, 
but  a  particular  form  of  Church,  —  that  form,  namely,  which 
these  reformers  had  in  vain  endeavored  to  be  allowed  to 
maintain  in  their  English  homes.  This  looks  to  us  narrow ; 
and  having  seen  what  this  mingling  of  Church  and  State 
led  to  at  a  later  day,  we  are  tempted  to  be  unduly  severe 
on  the  founders  of  the  nation  for  their  illiberal  ideas.  But 
it  was  a  natural  action  under  the  circumstances.  They 
had  come  to  see,  in  their  English  homes,  that  a  great 
danger  to  the  kingdom  of  God  lay  in  the  organized  and 
complicated  system  of  order  and  worship  which  the  Eng- 
lish Church,  forgetting  how  recently  it  had  itself  sprung 

4 


50  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

forth  as  a  protest  against  the  same  tyranny  in  the 
Church  of  Rome,  had  sought  to  impose  upon  all  reli- 
gious life  within  its  borders.  Our  fathers  had  sacrificed 
the  comforts  of  civilization  for  a  home  in  the  wilderness 
in  order  that  they  might  be  free,  themselves  and  their  de- 
scendants, from  this  tyranny  of  a  system.  They  felt  that 
in  order  to  keep  the  danger  from  encroaching,  when  it 
was  least  expected,  they  must  bar  it  out  by  the  firm  es- 
tablishment of  the  simpler  forms  which  they  believed  to 
spring  from  the  New  Testament,  They  did  not  see  that  in 
making  conformity  to  this  order  a  condition  of  participa- 
tion in  the  affairs  of  State  they  were  only  changing  the 
difficulty,  not  relieving  it.  They  had  not  yet  conceived  the 
modern  idea  of  religious  freedom;  they  could  not,  —  such 
conceptions  are  the  growth  of  ages.  So  for  a  long  time 
membership  in  the  Congregational  Churches  was  the  con- 
dition of  civil  influence;  until,  as  was  inevitable,  men  of 
political  ambition  became  unscrupulous  as  to  the  means 
they  used  to  get  membership  in  the  Churches,  in  order 
that  they  might  vote  and  hold  office.  But  we  should  be 
unjust  to  charge  these  consequences  of  their  action  upon 
the  men  whose  only  aim  was  freedom  from  those  abuses 
of  religious  authority  of  which  they  had  had  experience. 
Their  struggles  for  liberty  have  given  us  our  best  privi- 
leges of  to-day;  their  mistakes  were  corrected  by  the 
course  of  events  as  time  went  on. 

The  second  town-meeting  was  held  on  the  third  day  of 
February,  Thomas  Forbush  moderator,  at  which  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  — 

"to  Go  on  with  the  work  of  the  metting  house  untill  it  Be  Raised, 
Covered,  and  closed ;  viz.,  Namly :  Thomas  Rice,  John  Pratt, 
Thomas  Newton,  Daniel  Warrin,  William  Holloway,  chosen  to 
Do  the  work  Be  for  mentioned.    Voted  to  Raise  eighty  Pounds  in 


BEGINNINGS   OF  TOWN   LIFE.  5 1 

work,  Boards,  and  shingles,  and  claboards.  Voted  y'  the  above 
sd.  Committee  shall  have  three  Shilings  per  Day  untill  they  have 
worked  out  their  perticular  Reats ;  and  allso  y'  other  Laboring 
men  shall  have  2^-6'^-per  Day ;  also  a  man  with  his  team  of  four 
oxen,  six  shilings." 

February  14th,  Thomas  Rice,  Samuel  Forbush,  John 
Fay,  Thomas  Newton,  and  James  Bradish  were  appointed 
a  committee  "to  wait  upon  the  General  Cort's  Committee 
to  Sett  out  the  minister's  Lot."  The  proprietors  of  Marl- 
borough had  already,  as  we  have  seen,  on  the  13th  of 
March,  1710,  granted  a  portion  of  land  "for  the  benefit 
of  the  Ministry  in  the  westerly  end  of  Marlborough,  called 
Chauncy  Village."  The  committee  appointed  at  this  time 
seems  to  have  made,  in  conjunction  with  the  committee 
of  the  Legislature,  an  additional  assignment  of  one  hun- 
dred acres,  in  a  narrow  strip  running  across  the  town 
from  east  to  west.  This  hundred  acres  was  assigned  to 
Mr.  Daniel  Elmer,  to  whom  reference  is  made  in  the  fifth 
article  of  the  first  town-meeting,  and  who  was  the  first 
minister  of  Westborough,  though  never  ecclesiastically 
settled.  Mr.  Parkman  makes  the  following  record  of  his 
connection  with  the  town :  — 

"  Mr.  Daniel  Elmer,  a  candidate  for  the  ministry  from  Con- 
necticut River,  preached  here  several  years,  and  received  a  call 
from  the  people;  but  there  arose  dissension,  and  though  he  built 
upon  the  farm  which  was  given  for  the  first  settled  minister,  and 
dwelt  upon  it,  yet  by  the  advice  of  an  ecclesiastical  council  he 
desisted  from  preaching,  and  a  quitclaim  being  given  him  [by 
Mr.  Parkman,  dated  Oct.  28, 1 724]  of  the  farm,  he  sold  it,  and  with 
his  family  removed  to  Springfield  in  1724.  He  was  afterwards 
settled  at  Cohanzy,  in  the  Jerseys,  and,  I  suppose,  died  there." 

The  history  of  the  connection  of  Mr.  Elmer  with  the 
town  is  very  meagre.     There  is  nothing  between  the  vote 


52  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

of  the  town  January  15,  appointing  a  committee  to  confer 
with  him,  and  make  arrangements  for  his  comfortable 
support,  and  this  sketch  by  Mr.  Parkman,  unless  it  be  a 
hint  in  the  Diary  of  Judge  Sewall,  who,  passing  through 
here  on  his  way  from  Springfield  to  Boston,  dining  at 
Leicester,  Wednesday,  July  25,  1718,  and  riding  from  there 
to  Marlborough  in  the  afternoon,  wrote  in  his  Journal  the 
next  day,  "  Have  a  Fast  at  Westborough  this  day,  in  order 
to  settle  a  Minister." 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  the  *'  dissensions  "  to  which  Mr. 
Parkman  refers  had  led  to  the  appointment  of  this  fast; 
but  even  that  did  not  prove  of  sovereign  virtue,  for  the 
minister  was  not  settled.  The  farm  on  which  he  built 
ceased  to  be  the  "  ministerial  farm,"  as  he  sold  it,  March 
5,  1725,  to  Benjamin  Woods,  of  Marlborough,  for  ;^300. 
Mr.  Parkman  seems  to  have  had  only  the  fifty  acres  as- 
signed by  the  Marlborough  proprietors  in  17 10,  together 
with  such  land  as  he  subsequently  bought  for  himself. 

On  the  3d  of  March,  171 8,  was  held  the  first  in  the 
series  of  "  March  meetings,"  which  has  come  down  un- 
broken to  us  to-day.  At  that  meeting  John  Fay  was 
chosen  town-clerk,  which  office  he  held  for  eleven  years. 
John  Fay,  James  Bradish,  Thomas  Ward,  Thomas  Forbush, 
and  Thomas  Newton  were  chosen  selectmen  ;  Edmund 
Rice,  constable;  Samuel  Fay  and  Gershom  Fay,  surveyors 
of  highways ;  David  Brigham,  tithing-man ;  Samuel  For- 
bush and  Daniel  Warrin,  fence-viewers;  Thomas  Ward, 
sealer  of  leather;  Thomas  Rice,  town-treasurer;  and  Isaac 
Tomblin  and  John  Maynard,  field-drivers. 

Four  months  of  wintry  weather  passed,  after  the  vote 
"to  build  a  meeting-house  forthwith,"  before  anything 
whatever  was  done.  At  length,  in  April,  they  "  agreed  to 
put  a  place  to  vote  to  set  ye  meeting-House  upon;  "  and 


BEGINNINGS   OF  TOWN   LIFE.  53 

it  was  decided  to  set  it  "upon  the  northeast  corner  of  John 
Maynard's  lot."  In  May,  John  Maynard  and  Edmund 
Rice  formally  gave  the  town  the  desired  land,  —  three 
quarters  of  an  acre  belonging  to  Maynard,  and  one  quarter 
of  an  acre  to  Rice.  This  land  was  a  few  rods  northwest 
of  the  farm-house  on  the  grounds  of  the  Lyman  School, 
near  the  spring. 

The  site  obtained,  the  town  at  once  voted  to  go  on  with 
the  building.     In  the  following  October  — 

"  it  was  a  Greed  and  noted  to  Raise  the  meetting  house  uppon 
the  21''  of  the  Jnstant  October. 

"noted  to  procuer  Six  Gallons  Rhum  and  a  Barrall  and  half 
of  Syder  for  the  raising  the  meetting  house  in  s"^  Town." 

Doubtless  the  drink  tasted  just  as  good  as  if  it  had  been 
spelled  in  better  form;  at  any  rate,  there  was  plenty  of 
it.  The  good  Puritans  of  that  day  were  a  thirsty  folk,  and 
they  had  no  Sandra  pond  water.  At  every  raising,  ordi- 
nation, town-meeting,  ministers'  association,  wedding,  and 
funeral  something  enlivening  was  on  tap,  and  had  ample 
justice  done  it.  No  minister  called  at  the  houses  of  his 
parishioners  without  being  offered  the  cup  of  courtesy, 
nor  did  he  decline  with  thanks.  The  settlers  brought  the 
custom  over  with  them  when  they  came,  and  thought  no 
more  harm  of  it  than  a  temperance  advocate  of  this  day 
does  of  a  cup  of  tea.  Nor  was  there  any  great  riot  of 
drunkenness.  There  had  as  yet  been  no  immigration  of 
the  disreputable  classes  from  all  the  States  of  Europe  to 
show  what  drinking  comes  to  when  it  thrives  unchecked 
among  the  lawless.  So  no  thunder  struck  the  meeting- 
house when  its  frame  was  raised  to  the  chorus  of  well- 
moistened  throats,  and  the  work  of  building  went  on. 

Let  us  not  imagine,  however,  that  it  went  on  with  any 


54  EARLY  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

rapidity.  The  citizens  had  to  do  the  work,  in  addition  to 
their  own  labors.  Moreover,  there  is  no  evidence  that 
they  felt  in  a  great  hurry  about  it.  It  was  the  law  that 
they  must  build  a  meeting-house  forthwith,  and  they  passed 
the  vote  accordingly;  but  then  they  rested.  Time  never 
was  when,  to  the  average  man,  public  interests  were  more 
dear  than  his  own  affairs.  And  these  men,  who  put  ofT 
having  schools  as  long  as  they  could  without  being  "  pre- 
sented" at  Court,  were  not  going  to  be  driven  in  the 
matter  of  a  meeting-house.  We  must  distinguish,  un- 
doubtedly, between  the  leaders  of  the  movement  that 
brought  our  fathers  to  these  shores,  and  the  rank  and  file 
that  followed  them.  Among  these  were  good,  bad,  and 
indifferent.  Efforts  were  made  to  get  rid  of  the  bad  as 
fast  as  possible ;  but  not  all  who  were  so  eager  to  take  up 
the  lands  in  these  pioneer  towns  were  equally  anxious  to 
set  up  the  institutions  of  religion  for  their  own  sake.  They 
would  do  it,  for  it  was  the  law;  but  they  would  not  hurry, 
nor  seriously  neglect  their  own  affairs  for  the  sake  of  it. 

So  it  was  two  years  and  a  half  before  they  were  ready 
to  lay  the  floors,  put  in  seats,  hang  the  doors,  and  build 
a  pulpit.  On  the  4th  of  November,  1720,  the  first  town- 
meeting  was  held  in  the  building,  which  was  thenceforth 
the  place  for  all  town-meetings  until  the  division  of  the 
town  ;  but  it  was  not  yet  finished.  A  year  later  we  read 
of  an  effort  to  stir  up  those  who  were  delinquent  in  their 
subscriptions  to  provide  boards,  plank,  and  "  raials "  for 
making  seats,  and  a  workman  to  do  the  work.  In  1722, 
^40  were  granted  to  finish  the  meeting-house  and  to  pay 
those  men  who  had  contributed  more  than  their  share  in 
work  or  materials;  and  not  till  Sept.  9,  1723,  —  five  years 
from  its  commencement, — did  the  town  reach  the  important 
vote  "  to  compleate  finishing  the  meeting-house." 


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BEGINNINGS   OF  TOWN   LIFE,  55 

This  edifice,  so  long  in  building,  was  not  of  elaborate 
architecture,  —  a  plain  rectangle,  forty  feet  by  thirty,  guilt- 
less of  porch  or  chimney,  with  a  door  at  the  east  end  and 
another  at  the  west.  Unpainted  and  devoid  of  all  orna- 
ment, it  was  typical  of  New  England  life  in  its  outward 
aspect  at  that  period.  Within,  the  pulpit  was  midway  on 
the  north  side ;  two  rows  of  "  seats,"  which  were  nothing 
more  than  benches,  faced  it,  with  "  an  Alley  Betwen  the 
men  and  women  through  ye  midel  of  the  Mett.  house,"  in 
accordance  with  a  special  vote  of  Sept.  21,  1720.  These 
seats  were  assigned  to  members  of  the  congregation  with 
careful  regard  to  dignity,  the  oldest  and  most  wealthy  of 
those  who  did  not  have  pews  having  the  front  seats.  The 
space  around  the  walls  was  granted  by  vote  of  the  town, 
"  to  be  improved  for  pews."  These  pews  were  not  built 
by  the  town,  but  the  "  pew-spots "  were  sold ;  and  each 
owner  built  his  own  pew  as  he  would  build  a  house  on 
a  lot  he  had  purchased,  making  it,  within  the  limits 
assigned,  in  accordance  with  his  own  ideas.  They  were 
large,  square,  family  pews,  and  they  held,  for  more  than 
twenty  years,  the  first  families  of  Westborough. 

Thomas  Rice  had  the  space  next  the  pulpit  on  the  east; 
Thomas  Forbush  was  next;  John  Fay  was  on  the  east 
side,  north  of  the  door;  Samuel  Robinson,  south  of  the 
door;  David  Brigham  was  in  the  northwest  corner;  John 
Maynard,  who  entertained  the  ministers  who  supplied  the 
pulpit  from  time  to  time,  was  north  of  the  west  door; 
James  Eager  and  Joseph  Wheeler,  south  of  it. 

This  meeting-house  was  the  centre  of  the  religious  and 
political  life  of  the  town  until  the  latter  was  divided,  in 
1744,  into  north  and  south  "Precincts."  It  witnessed  the 
labors  of  the  first  settled  minister,  the  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Parkman,  for  twenty  years;   and  when  finally,  in  1748,  it 


56  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

was  taken  down,  its  materials  were  used  in  the  structure 
of  the  new  house,  which  still  stands,  and  has  long  been 
familiarly  known  as  "the  Old  Arcade." 

Two  other  public  institutions  were  finished  before  the 
meeting-house.  In  1721  the  town  was  "presented  at  Con- 
cord Corte  "  for  not  having  a  pound,  as  the  law  directed ; 
and  consequently,  on  the  iith  of  August,  it  was  voted 
to  build  one  thirty  feet  square,  on  a  piece  of  land  given 
for  it  by  David  Maynard  for  ten  years.  The  towns  of 
those  days  held  common  lands  for  pasturage,  as  well  as 
the  meadows,  and  stray  cattle  were  liable  to  be  found  fre- 
quently ;  hence  every  town  had  a  brand-mark  of  its  own 
and  a  pound,  where  strays  could  be  detained  till  called 
for  ;  hence  also  the  then  important  office  of  "  fence- 
viewer,"  —  a  relic  of  antiquity  still  retained  in  name,  in 
town  organizations,  if  not  in  actual  practice. 

The  other  institution  was  the  town-stocks,  for  building 
which  John  Pratt  was  "voted  and  granted  Eight  Shilin  " 
in  1723.  There  is  nothing  to  show  how  much  use  this 
institution  received  in  the  years  following;  but  in  most 
towns  it  was  by  no  means  idle.  The  number  of  offences, 
both  civil  and  ecclesiastical,  for  which  this  punishment 
was  prescribed  by  the  laws  of  the  early  colony  was 
large,  and  there  was  usually  a  vigorous  enforcement  of 
the  penalty. 

The  first  recorded  appropriation  for  highways  was 
made  March  27,  17 19,  amounting  to  £10,  or,  at  the  ex- 
isting rate  of  currency,  about  $2$.  In  1722,  ;^20  was 
appropriated  for  roads,  and  weights  and  measures  for  the 
town's  use  were  purchased.  It  was  voted  also  to  pur- 
chase a  book  for  the  town-records;  though  it  was  not 
until  five  years  later,  according  to  the  testimony  of  the 
book  itself,  that  it  was  bought  and  used  for  entries. 


BEGINNINGS  OF  TOWN  LIFE.  $7 

In  1 72 1  John  Fay,  David  Brigham,  and  Thomas  Ward 
were  appointed  trustees  "  to  go  to  the  Province  Treasurer 
and  take  out  the  proportion  of  bills  that  belong  to  the 
town."  This  was  the  beginning  of  sorrows  from  an 
inflated  and  depreciating  currency,  which  afterward  be- 
came so  heavy  a  burden  to  the  colonies.  The  same 
committee  were  authorized  to  let  out  the  money  for  the 
town's  use,  "  not  letting  a  bigger  sum  than  £4  or  £$ 
to  one  man,  except  in  the  conclusion  that  there  be  a 
necessity  for  it." 

This  paper  money,  to  which  frequent  allusions  are  made 
under  the  name  of  "  the  bank,"  "  loan-money,"  etc.,  was 
the  result  of  a  recent  plan,  devised  by  the  General  Court, 
to  relieve  the  financial  stress  of  the  colony.  When  our 
fathers  came  to  this  country  they  of  course  brought 
specie  with  them ;  and  although  they  made  use,  in  lack 
of  sufficient  cash,  of  a  system  of  barter,  they  had  substan- 
tially a  coin  basis  till  near  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century.  After  the  failure  of  the  attack  on  Quebec  in 
1690,  which  cost  Massachusetts  ;^50,ooo,  the  colony,  find- 
ing itself  much  embarrassed,  was  forced  to  begin  the  issue 
of  bills  of  credit,  which  subsequently  resulted  in  a  ter- 
rible depreciation  of  the  currency.  In  1714  the  matter  of 
finance  was  under  discussion  in  the  General  Court,  and  a 
scheme  was  finally  adopted,  by  which  the  colony  issued 
notes  to  the  amount  of  ;^50,ooo  to  the  towns,  who  ap- 
pointed trustees  to  receive  them,  and  to  loan  them  in 
small  sums  to  individuals  at  a  reasonable  rate  of  interest. 
This  loan  in  the  hands  of  the  trustees  was  called  a  "bank." 
But  these  notes  depreciated  until  they  were  worth  only 
about  one  tenth  of  their  face  value.  About  1729  a  new 
issue  of  i^6o,ooo  was  made,  which  was  to  be  redeemable 
in  specie ;   and  the  old  notes  were  to  be  redeemed  at  the 


58  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

rate  of  50^.  for  6s,  Sd.  in  silver.  This  gave  rise  to  the 
terms  "  old  tenor  "  and  "  lawful  money,"  frequently  occur- 
ring in  the  records,  —  the  one  being  about  seven  and  one 
half  times  the  other ;  and  in  practical  business  nine  or  ten 
of  "  old  tenor  "  passing  for  one  of  "  lawful  money." 

So,  step  by  step,  the  new  town  was  becoming  organized, 
and  taking  up  its  share,  with  the  rest,  of  the  responsi- 
bilities and  privations  of  the  colony.  For  a  long  time, 
however,  the  chief  interest  centres  around  the  meeting- 
house and  the  minister ;  and  we  shall  best  understand  the 
life  of  that  day  if  we  follow  somewhat  closely  the  story 
of  the  simple  ecclesiastical  life,  of  which  the  civil  life 
was  but  one  part. 


CHAPTER  V. 

1723,  1724. 

HOW  THEY   SECURED   A   MINISTER. 

IN  1723,  the  year  of  the  completion  of  the  meeting- 
house, the  town  was  engaged  in  the  effort  to  settle 
accounts  with  Mr.  Elmer,  whom,  for  reasons  that  are  not 
apparent  from  existing  records,  the  people  did  not  wish 
to  retain  as  their  minister.  When  a  man  had  come  into 
possession  of  the  ministerial  farm  in  those  days,  it  was 
his  by  inalienable  right  so  long  as  he  lived.  If  the  town 
desired  a  new  minister,  as  it  seldom  did,  it  could  only 
acquire  the  minister's  land  by  purchase  from  its  occu- 
pant, who  could,  if  he  chose,  refuse  to  sell,  or  ask  an 
exorbitant  price.  In  the  present  case  it  was  not  until 
after  a  good  deal  of  delay  that  the  matter  was  finally 
arranged,  by  giving  Mr.  Elmer  the  land  he  claimed. 
After  this  had  been  accomplished,  the  town  was  ready 
to  comply  with  the  second  part  of  its  agreement  with 
the  General  Court  at  its  incorporation,  and  procure  a 
settled  minister. 

Accordingly,  on  the  13th  of  May,  1723,  ;^40  was  voted 
for  "  a  Town  Stock  to  Soporte  the  preaching  of  the  Gos- 
pell."  On  the  same  day  David  Maynard  was  appointed 
sexton  of  the  meeting-house,  "  to  sweep,  and  lay  up  the 
cushions,  and  shut  the  doors."  There  the  matter  rested 
for  eight  months.  On  the  6th  of  January,  1724,  a  town 
meeting  was  held  to  take  active  measures  for  obtaining  a 


60  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

minister.  Evidently  there  was  a  similar  tardiness  here  to 
that  which  we  noticed  in  the  building  of  the  meeting- 
house, and  due  to  the  same  causes.  We  have  to  be 
careful  in  estimating  the  feelings  that  prompted  these 
people,  lest  on  the  one  hand  we  give  them  credit  for 
more  piety  than  was  really  theirs,  or  on  the  other  fail  to 
see  how  central  in  importance,  among  all  the  public  in- 
stitutions, was  the  church  and  its  equipment.  Then,  as 
always,  those  who  fully  appreciated  the  religious  privi- 
leges they  sought  were  the  few ;  they  had  to  drag  the 
rest.  Had  it  not  been  that  the  law  compelled  the  peo- 
ple, and  that  their  political  privileges  depended  on  the 
doing  of  it,  they  might  have  lived  on  for  a  generation 
without  moving  in  the  matter  of  a  church.  There  were 
those  who  would  have  deeply  regretted  it,  but  they  would 
have  been  powerless. 

And  yet,  on  the  other  hand,  no  man  of  average  intelli- 
gence of  that  day  could  fail  to  see  the  great  importance 
which  attached  to  the  institution  of  the  pulpit.  The 
minister  of  the  town  was  chief  magistrate  and  instructor, 
as  well  as  preacher.  He  supplied  the  place  of  all  our 
modern  institutions  for  the  diffusion  of  intelligence,  saving 
only  the  school;  and  that  for  a  long  time  was  inter- 
mittent and  rudimentary,  and  in  Westborough  was  not 
as  yet  begun.  These  inland  communities  were,  as  we 
have  seen,  isolated  and  lonely.  Boston  was  a  long  way 
off,  and  the  only  means  of  conveyance  thither  was  the 
back  of  a  horse.  The  days  of  these  men  and  women 
were  uneventful,  their  labor  was  hard,  news  was  scarce, 
information  almost  inaccessible.  Books  were  a  rarity, 
the  newspaper  was  only  just  born  in  this  country,  and 
the  few  already  existing  had  small  value.  On  the  24th 
of  April,   1704,  the  "Boston  News  Letter"  was  issued  as 


HOW  THEY  SECURED  A  MINISTER.  6 1 

a  venture;  but  after  fifteen  years  its  circulation  had  not 
reached  three  hundred  copies.  It  contained  less  than 
would  fill  half  a  column  of  one  of  our  dailies,  was 
printed  on  a  half  sheet,  and  its  only  advertisement 
stated  that  copies  might  be  had,  on  reasonable  terms, 
of  the  proprietor. 

Others  had  sprung  up  by  1720;  but  they  were  feeble, 
and  of  very  limited  circulation.  In  1721  James  Franklin, 
whose  younger  brother,  Benjamin,  assisted  him  in  his 
printing,  began  to  issue  an  independent  sheet,  called  the 
"  New  England  Courant."  But  owing  to  his  temerity  in 
attacking  pet  institutions,  he  was  soon  obliged  to  sus- 
pend it;  and  the  irrepressible  boy  Benjamin,  after  carry- 
ing on  his  brother's  paper  for  him  in  Boston  for  a  short 
time,  started  out  on  his  memorable  trip  to  Philadelphia 
and  fame  in  this  year,  1723. 

With  such  scanty  means  of  information  the  young 
towns  depended,  to  a  degree  seldom  equalled,  upon  the 
minister  for  whatever  they  might  have  that  linked  them 
with  the  life  of  the  great  world  beyond  them.  These 
ministers  of  early  New  England  were  educated  men. 
The  era  of  the  apotheosis  of  ignorance  as  a  qualifica- 
tion for  spiritual  leadership  had  not  yet  arrived.  They 
lacked  the  opportunities  of  the  older  English  universi- 
ties, but  Harvard  already  stood  for  all  that  was  possible 
in  education  with  the  advantages  available,  and  her  gradu- 
ates were  well  drilled  in  the  dead  languages  and  in  such 
philosophy  and  theology  as  were  then  current.  Litera- 
ture, indeed,  was  scarce.  The  ministers  of  that  day 
knew  nothing  of  well-filled  library  shelves,  or  of  reviews 
and  periodicals.  They,  as  well  as  their  people,  were 
out  of  the  sweep  of  life  as  we  know  it  to-day;  but  they 
were  nevertheless  the   best   cultured  men  of  these  com- 


62  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

munities,  and  were  correspondingly  revered  and  looked 
to  for  a  sound  opinion  on  all  things,  terrestrial  and 
spiritual.  Their  sermons  were  the  plainest  utterances  of 
the  current  views  of  religious  truth,  straying  but  little 
into  the  broader  fields  of  life  and  thought;  but  they 
stood  in  place  of  newspaper,  convention,  lyceum,  and 
school  to  the  people  to  whom  they  ministered. 

However  slow,  therefore,  the  people  might  be  in  moving 
toward  their  goal,  we  must  nevertheless  understand  that 
when  they  finally  planted  the  institution  of  a  church  and 
a  minister,  they  had  taken  the  most  important  step  in 
their  history,  and  that  they  knew  it,  and  were,  in  their 
slow  way,  greatly  interested  in  it.  It  was  not,  then,  with- 
out a  definite  purpose  and  some  deep  convictions  that 
they  at  last  took  steps  to  obtain  a  minister  who  might 
settle  with  them  and  become  connected  with  the  life  of 
the  town.  The  quaint  record  of  that  town  meeting  of 
Jan.  6,   1724,  is  worthy  of  transcription :  — 

"  Pursuant  to  an  order  from  the  Select  men,  the  Town 
meete  :  first  note,  Capt.  John  Fay  was  chose  moderator  of 
the  meeting. 

*'  2ly  it  was  tried  whether  the  Town  was  Ready  to  nomaneate 
a  Gentelman  or  two  jn  order  to  Setell  with  us  in  the  work 
of  the  Gospel  ministry  amongst  us  in  s'^  Town,  and  the  uote 
apeared  in  the  afirmetive. 

"  3ly  It  was  agread  and  uoted  that  Mr.  Parkman  and  Mr.  Eliot 
be  in  nomanation  in  order  for  Electtion  of  a  Gospel  minister  to 
setel  in  s'^  Town. 

*'  4ly  uoted  that  Jeames  Braddish,  Daniel  Warrin,  and  Jacob 
Amsden  be  a  Commeette  Chosen  to  aquant  the  above  noma- 
nated  Gentelmen  with  the  Town's  acts  and  to  wait  upon  them  as 
ocation  shal  Be. 

"  5ly  The  Town  made  choice  of  John  Maynard  to  Entertain 
the  ministers  at  the  Town's  coust.     Then  uoted  that  this  meet- 


HOW  THEY  SECURED  A  MINISTER.  €3 

ting  Be  a  journed  to  the  20th  currant,  att  12  o'clock  at  noon, 
and  then  mett  and  noted  to  a  journ  this  meetting  to  the :  24 
Currant  at  noon  at  the  meett :  house  in  said  Town  ;  and  then  mett 
agane  and  agread  and  uoted  that  Edward  Baker  and  William 
Holloway  Be  a  Commeete  to  Go  to  Sum  Rev'^  ordained  Eld- 
ers that  are  a  quanted  with  Mr.  Ebenezer  Parkman  and  Mr. 
Jacob  Eliot,  Both  of  Boston,  and  Candideats  for  the  ministry, 
for  their  advice  and  Recommendation  in  order  for  Election  as 
the  Law  Directs." 

In  February  the  town  granted  ;^8o  for  a  yearly  salary, 
and  ^150  for  a  "settlement;"  the  latter  to  be  paid  in 
money  in  three  years,  fifty  pounds  a  year.  Ebenezer 
Parkman  was  chosen  as  the  minister  of  the  town,  and 
James  Eager  and  Edward  Baker  were  appointed  a  com- 
mittee to  wait  on  him  with  the  town's  call. 

Preliminary  to  his  reply,  he  sent  them,  some  time  during 
the  spring,  a  letter  asking  for  a  trifling  improvement  in  the 
terms  of  settlement;  namely  (as  copied  in  the  bad  spell- 
ing of  the  town  clerk),  "That  the  mony  propofed  for  my 
fetelment  be  in  fum  fhorter  and  more  Convenient  time ; 
that  the  town  would  Procuer  my  Wood ;  and  that  they 
would  Take  into  Consideration  y*"  finking  of  our  money." 
To  this  the  town  responded,  — 

Reuer'^'"  Sir,  —  As  to  your  propofels,  on  the  other  fide 
the  town  has  Confidered  them,  and  Do  not  Comply  with  them. 
But  what  we  have  all  ready  propofed  we  fland  Ready  to  per- 
forme ;  and  we  Hope  as  we  Grow  and  Jncreas  that  we  Shall  be 
able  to  Do  more. 

This  Agreed  to  and  uoted  in  the  Affirmative. 

JosiAH  Newton,  Moderator. 

But  that  his  chief  anxiety  was  not  concerning  the  tem- 
poralities of  his  office,  the  following  memorandum,  now  in 
possession  of  one  of  his  descendants,  abundantly  shows : 


64  EARLY  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Westborough,  Wednesday,  May  13,  1724. 
This  day  I  solemnly  consecrated  [by  ye  grace  of  God]  a  Day 
of  Fasting  and  Earnest  Address  to  Heaven  for  Neccessary  Direc- 
tion in  ye  Momentous  Concern  of  returning  an  Answer  to  ye  Call 
of  this  Town  to  me  to  ye  Evangelical  Ministry.  In  it  I  proposed 
these  Petitions  especially :  — 

1.  For  remission  of  all  my  multiplied  and  heinous  Iniquities, 
&  particularly  unprofitableness  under  ye  Means  of  Grace,  and 
Negligence  &  Sloth  in  ye  Great  Business  God  has  been  pleased 
to  Employ  me  in. 

2.  For  success  in  my  Ministrations ;  and  that  I  my  Self  may 
be  thereby  continually  and  Eternally  advanced  and  Saved. 

3.  For  Singular  Wisdom  and  Prudence  rightly  to  Determine 
in  ye  Weighty  Case  before  me  relating  to  this  People :  That  I 
may  have  right  Aims  in  all  I  do  or  Design  ;  That  ye  Glory  of 
God  and  ye  eternal  Salvation  of  Precious  Souls  may  be  ye  Fun- 
damental and  Moving  Principles  ;  and  that  no  secular  Prospects 
may  bear  sway  any  otherwise  than  in  Subordination  and  Agree- 
ment to  ye  Sovereign  Will  of  God.  Finally,  yt  Peace  and  Love 
may  be  Established  in  all  my  Management;  yt  Christian  charity 
may  abound  ;  And  that  ye  work  of  God  may  be  exceedingly 
prospered. 

4.  That  God  would  provide  for  my  Comfortable  Subsistence, 
and  Grant  me  a  Contented  Heart  w"'  ye  Portion  he  shall  Carve 
me  out. 

Lastly,  That  He  would  more  and  more  qualify  me  for  His 
work,  And  improve  me  in  it,  &  Grant  me  Grace  to  be  faithful, 
And  at  last  bestow  on  me  a  Crown  of  Eternal  glory.         E.  P. 

Meantime  the  town  was  impatiently  waiting  for  his  reply. 
The  call  had  been  extended  in  February,  and  it  was  now 
the  middle  of  May;  and  although  it  was  not  the  habit 
of  the  people  of  those  days  to  hurry  anything,  they  had 
begun  to  feel  as  though  it  would  be  gratifying  to  know 
whether  they  were  to  have  a  minister.  The  town  meeting 
had  already  adjourned  five  times,  and  the  following  Mon- 
day adjourned  again;  but  the  candidate  would  have  time 


HOW  THEY  SECURED  A  MINISTER.  6$ 

for  full  deliberation,  and  it  was  the  5th  of  July  before  the 
town  clerk  was  at  last  able  to  conclude  his  meagre  record 
of  adjournments  with  the  statement :  "  and  f/ieu  met,  and 
received  Mr.  Parkman's  answer  to  ye  town's  call,"  —  an 
answer  which  proved  to  be  an  acceptance. 

Ebenezer  Parkman,  who  from  this  time  for  more  than 
half  a  century  was  so  intimately  connected  with  the  life 
of  Westborough,  was  born  in  Boston  Sept.  5,  1703,  and 
was  therefore  at  the  time  of  his  call  twenty-one  years 
of  age.  His  father,  William  Parkman,  was  one  of  the  ori- 
ginal members,  and  afterward  a  ruling  elder,  of  the  New 
North  Church  in  Boston,  which  was  organized  in  1712  at 
the  North  End ;  and  his  brother  Elias  was  a  mast-maker 
in  the  same  section  of  the  city.  His  grandfather,  Elias, 
lived  in  Dorchester  as  early  as  1633.  In  171 7,  the  year  of 
the  incorporation  of  Westborough,  Ebenezer  was  admitted 
to  Harvard  College,  being  then  only  fourteen  years  of  age ; 
he  graduated  in  course  July  5,  1721.  During  the  ensuing 
winter  he  taught  school  in  Newton,  and  in  April,  1722, 
went  to  reside  with  his  brother  Elias,  where  he  remained 
nearly  a  year  and  a  half,  studying  part  of  the  time  in  Cam- 
bridge, and  part  of  the  time  in  Boston,  until  he  began  to 
preach  in  the  neighboring  country. 

Boston  at  this  time  was  a  thriving  seaport  town  of 
nearly  twelve  thousand  inhabitants,  having,  according  to 
an  old  chronicle,  "  3000  houses,  1000  of  them  being 
of  brick,  the  rest  of  timber;  42  streets,  2^  lanes,  and 
22  alleys, "  —  which  lanes  and  alleys  have  been  a  grief 
of  mind  to  hapless  strangers  to  this  day.  George  I. 
was  king  of  the  colonies,  and  Samuel  Shute  gover- 
nor ;  the  latter,  being  immensely  unpopular,  had  just 
left  for  England  to  lay  his  grievances  before  the  king, 
leaving  William  Dummer,  the  lieutenant-governor,  to  act 

5 


66  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

in  his  stead  for  some  six  years.  Slavery  was  not  yet 
in  disrepute  either  North  or  South,  and  it  is  a  httle 
starthng  to  those  of  us  who  have  learned  to  revere  the 
Parkman  name,  to  find  it  in  an  advertisement  of  this 
sort  in  a  paper  of  1728:  — 

"  April  I.  Mr.  Henry  Richards  wants  to  sell  a  parcel  of 
likely  negro  boys  and  one  negro  girl,  arrived  from  Nevis,  and 
were  brought  from  Guinea.  To  be  seen  at  the  house  of  Mr. 
Elias  Parkman,  mast-maker,  at  the  North  End." 

Following  this  is  another  advertisement,  evidently  of  a 
"  variety  store :  "  — 

"  April  22'^.  Two  very  likely  negro  girls.  Enquire  two  doors 
from  the  Brick  Meeting  house  on  Middle  St.  At  which  place 
is  to  be  sold  women's  stays,  children's  good  callamanco  stiff'ned 
boddy'd  coats,  and  children's  staj's  of  all  sorts,  and  women's 
hoop  coats,  all  [of  course  including  the  negro  girls]  at  very 
reasonable  rates. 

It  was  early  in  1723  that  Mr.  Parkman  began  to  preach, 
and  we  hear  of  him  at  Wrentham,  Hopkinton,  and  Wor- 
cester. On  the  2 1st  of  August  he  was  waited  upon 
in  Boston  by  a  Mr.  Shattuck  and  invited  to  preach  in 
Westborough.  He  accepted  the  invitation,  and  came  up 
a  day  or  two  later  on  horseback,  leaving  Watertown  at 
half-past  twelve,  and  reaching  Westborough  about  dark. 
He  preached  the  two  following  Sundays,  —  August  25 
and  September  i. 

Journeys  in  those  days  were  not  only  tedious,  but  some- 
times hazardous.  The  woods  were  stocked  with  something 
more  fierce  than  the  rabbits  and  partridges  of  these  degen- 
erate days.  In  1721  Westborough  "granted  John  Fay 
;^i  los.  for  defraying  the  charge  he  was  at  [as  the  town's 
representative]  in  answering  complaint,  or  agreeing  with 


^^/i//i^^^^^-f^^ 


This  picture  is  reproduced  from  a  pen  aud  ink  sketch  made  by  a  boy  from 
memory.     It  is  probably  not  a  good  likeness. 


HOW  THEY   SECURED   A   MINISTER,  6/- 

Mr.  Lenard,  of  Worcester,  at  Concord  about  a  Wolfs 
Head  which  the  said  Lenard  sued  the  town  for."  This 
intimation  that  the  towns  offered  bounties  for  wolves' 
heads  makes  it  certain  that  they  were  still  in  dangerous 
numbers.  Even  thirty  years  later  there  was  some  game 
in  these  woods  not  to  be  despised  of  the  hunter,  as  wit- 
ness the  following  items  from  the  town  records :  — 

To  the  Town  Treasurer  for  the  Time  Being :  these  may  cer- 
tify that  Jese  Brigham  brought  to  us  a  wild  Catt's  head  that  was 
under  a  year  old,  and  it  was  Executed  as  the  Law  directs  pr.  us, 
Westborough,  March  y^  5«^  1753.  , 

James  Eager,  Selectman. 
Eliezer  Rice,  Constable. 
N.B.     This  head  was  Brought  in  y^  yeare  1750. 


■^°     ^     ^  WESTBOR :  march  9,  1753. 

then  Rec'*  y*  whole  of  this  Kitten's  head  in  money.  I  say 
Rec'^  by  Jesse  Brigham. 

Nor  were  wild  beasts  the  only  inconvenience  of  the 
solitary  traveller  on  horseback.  Just  at  this  time  Indian 
hostilities  were  renewed,  and  the  towns  were  full  of  ner- 
vous alarms.  During  his  first  visit  Mr.  Parkman  walked 
to  the  meeting-house  from  John  Maynard's,  Saturday  after- 
noon, August  31,  with  pistol  in  hand.  At  four  o'clock 
an  alarm  was  raised,  and  the  people  rushed  to  arms;  but 
happily  no  Indians  appeared. 

By  this  time  all  sentimental  feelings  toward  the  red-man 
had  vanished  from  the  thoughts  of  the  settlers,  and  even 
the  desire  to  be  just  was  becoming  faint  before  the  pres- 
ence of  a  terror  which  never  wholly  forsook  them.  Then, 
too,  the  mild  Indian  of  Massachusetts  had  disappeared, 
and  the  savage  whom  they  now   knew  was,  as  we  have 


68  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

seen,  the  emissary  of  the  Frenchman  in  Canada.  The 
feeling  of  the  time  finds  a  very  apt  illustration  in  a 
passage  in  the  Diary  of  young  Parkman,  written  just 
before  he  assumed  charge  of  a  church  in  the  wilderness 
of  Worcester  County. 

"  August  23^,  1724. 
"  News  that  Capt.  Harmon  had  Slain  5  or  6  more  Indians  at 
Norridgewock,  with  Sebastian  Rasle,  y"  Old  Jesuit,  and  bro'  in 
his  and  26  or  27  scalps  besides,  and  Delivered  Three  Captives 
from  y^  Enemy.  Among  those  y'  were  slain  of  y^  Indians 
Bummageem  was  one.  His  Wife  and  Two  Sons  were  taken  cap- 
tive, and  Bro'  to  York  and  Piscataqua.  And  in  all  We  lost  Not 
a  Man  but  an  Indian,  a  Cape  Fellow.  DEO  OPT.  MAX. 
GLORIA  TRIUMPHI.  Capt.  Harmon  found  an  Iron  Chest 
with  y^  Jesuit,  wh.  had  many  Letters  in  it,  some  from  Gentle- 
men at  Boston,  (O  Horrid)  Betraying  our  Country." 

The  mingling  of  the  Puritanic  horror  of  the  Roman 
Catholic  with  the  most  ludicrous  carelessness  of  Indian 
life  makes  the  unconscious  humor  of  this  passage  delight- 
ful. "  Y*  Old  Jesuit "  was  a  devoted  and  saintly  man 
according  to  French  Catholic  ideas  of  saintliness,  and 
made  great  sacrifices  for  the  religious  welfare  of  his 
red  converts;  but  he  hated  the  English,  and  the  Eng- 
lish returned  his  hatred  with  interest,  accusing  him, 
probably  not  without  cause,  of  instigating  his  Indians 
to  the  diabolical  deeds  they  perpetrated.  The  expedi- 
tions sent  against  him  for  a  long  time  failed  of  success, 
and  the  Indians  continued  their  mad  career.  But  when 
at  last  he  was  caught,  great  was  the  exultation;  for  the 
heart  of  New  England  had  suffered  long  and  severely, 
and  its  hatred  had  waxed  hot.  It  found  a  pre-eminent 
fitness  in  some  of  the  imprecatory  Psalms  for  the  temper 
of  the  hour. 


HOW  THEY  SECURED  A  MINISTER.  69 

Such  were  some  of  the  features  of  the  frontier  Ufe 
into  which  this  college-bred  Boston  boy  came  in  the 
year  1723.  On  the  5th  of  January,  1724,  he  preached 
again,  and  the  next  day  was  held  the  town  meeting 
above  recorded,  when  he  and  Mr.  Jacob  Eliot  were 
nominated  as  candidates.  On  Wednesday  a  committee 
of  the  town  called  upon  him  to  inform  him  of  the  pro- 
ceedings. "  And  in  truth,"  wrote  the  young  man  that 
day  in  his  Diary,  "  I  was  at  a  stand  (though  I  did  not 
express  any  extraordinary  hesitation),  considering  my 
incapacities  on  every  hand." 

The  next  day  he  rode  over  to  Hopkinton,  where  he  found 
one  of  the  race,  not  yet  extinct,  which  loves  to  tell  unpleas- 
ant news,  —  one  Colonel  How,  who  told  him  he  understood 
how  affairs  were  in  Westborough,  and  that  Mr.  Thomas 
Ward  had  tried  to  raise  an  opposition  to  him.  The  news 
sobered  his  young  ardor  somewhat,  but  not  sufficiently  to 
interfere  with  his  enjoyment  of  a  sumptuous  dinner  the  next 
day  at  "  Mr.  Whood's,"  where  they  had  "  roast  goose,  roast 
peahen,  baked  stuffed  venison,  beef,  pork,"  etc.  "After 
dinner,"  he  records,  "  we  smoked  a  pipe  and  read  Gov. 
Shute's  memorial  to  the  King." 

In  March  following  he  became  a  member  of  the  New 
North  Church  in  Boston,  organized  in  171 2,  of  which  just 
a  century  later  the  Rev.  Francis  Parkman  became  pastor. 
When  Ebenezer  joined  it,  in  1724,  the  Rev.  John  Webb 
was  pastor,  and  the  Rev.  Peter  Thacher,  colleague.  In 
July  he  received  his  second  degree,  that  of  Master  of 
Arts,  from  Harvard.  On  the  23d  of  August  he  preached 
again  in  Westborough.  On  Tuesday,  the  ist  of  Septem- 
ber, there  was  held  a  meeting  of  those  who  proposed  to 
become  members  of  the  yet  unorganized  Church,  and  on 
the    Friday   following   they   all   called    on    Mr.   Parkman, 


^.a  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

acquainting  him  with  their  proceedings  and  "  their  most 
happy  union,"  and  inquiring  what  he  thought  should  be 
done  farther.  "  They  remained  in  conference,"  he  said, 
"  until  sundown,  and  concluded  with  a  prayer."  For  him- 
self, the  young  man  was  deeply  sensitive  as  to  the  gravity 
of  the  duties  he  was  assuming,  and  very  humble  as  to  his 
fitness  for  the  work.  The  day  after  this  conference,  re- 
cording it  in  his  Diary,  he  adds,  "  O,  my  inconstancy  and 
instability  in  these  unsettled  times,  when  steadiness  is  so 
much  demanded !  "  It  was  indeed  a  time  that  called  for 
nerve.  Harassed  with  Indian  depredations  ;  oppressed 
with  depreciated  currency ;  forced  to  toil  unremittingly  to 
wrest  subsistence  from  the  yet  unsubdued  land ;  struggling 
amid  much  ignorance  and  inexperience  to  lay  the  founda- 
tions of  Church  and  State  on  a  new  and  untried  method, 
—  these  pioneers  had  need  of  courage  and  wisdom,  and 
those  who  were  to  be  leaders  must  be  men  of  strong  fibre. 
The  young  minister  of  those  days  had  few  advisers.  His 
older  brethren  being  in  scattered  parishes,  and  there  being 
no  means  of  easy  assembly,  he  would  usually  be  left  to 
work  out  his  problems  alone.  And  not  only  that,  but  he 
was  to  be  a  leader  in  a  sense  which  would  be  strange  to 
us.  He  was  first  man  of  the  town.  No  others  were  as 
well  informed ;  none  carried  his  influence  and  authority. 
He  must  to  a  great  degree  direct  the  future  course  of  the 
town.  It  meant  something  then  to  be  a  New  England 
bishop,  and  we  can  pardon  the  modest  shrinking  of  this 
youth  of  twenty-one  from  the  responsibilities  that  were 
coming  upon  him. 

But  his  mind  was  not  wholly  absorbed,  even  at  this  time, 
with  the  gravity  of  his  position :  there  were  sweets  mingled 
with  the  sternness  of  his  experience ;  and  while  he  con- 
sulted with  the  elders  and  read  up  on  his  duties,  his  heart 


HOW  THEY  SECURED  A  MINISTER.  7 1 

was  away  at  Cambridge,  where  a  damsel  of  twenty-five 
summers,  whom  he  knew,  was  busy  with  preparations  for 
her  wedding-day.  Sunday  over,  and  the  consultations 
completed,  he  rode  back  to  Boston,  where  a  week  later,  on 
Monday,  the  14th  of  September,  he  was  married  to  Mary, 
daughter  of  Samuel  and  Hannah  Champney.  With  only 
a  brief  time  for  nuptial  festivities,  the  young  couple  began 
preparations  for  their  removal  and  settlement,  and  in  less 
than  a  month  were  on  the  ground  and  in  their  house. 

Meantime  the  town  had  observed  Thursday,  the  24th  of 
September,  as  a  fast-day,  "  in  order  to  the  gathering  of  a 
church  in  s"^  town,  and  for  y''  ordination  of  y^  Rev'^  Mr. 
Parkman ;  "  and  the  neighboring  ministers  had  met,  as 
was  customary,  to  conduct  the  solemn  exercises  and  de- 
liver devout  exhortations.  On  the  28th  a  town  meeting 
was  held,  and  it  was  voted  "to  ordain  y*  Rev'*  Mr.  Park- 
man  to  be  a  pastor  of  y^  church  amongst  us;"  and  Wed- 
nesday, the  28th  of  October,  was  fixed  as  the  time.  It  was 
also  voted  "  to  send  for  y^  elders  in  neighboring  towns ;  " 
and  a  committee  was  appointed  "  to  entertain  them  as 
usual  at  y"  town's  cost." 


CHAPTER   VI. 

1724. 

ORGANIZATION  OF  A  CHURCH,  AND   ORDINATION  OF  THE 
FIRST   SETTLED   MINISTER. 

FROM  this  time  until  the  great  day  arrived  that  was 
to  see  them  fully  equipped  with  the  institutions  of 
religion,  all  thoughts  were  concentrated  on  one  event. 
The  people  must  needs  be  busy,  one  and  all,  in  prepara- 
tion for  the  entertainment  of  the  council  and  the  guests. 
The  young  minister  and  his  wife  were  gathering  up  their 
housekeeping  goods  and  sending  them  to  their  new  home. 
By  the  12th  of  October  they  were  moving  into  their  house, 
which  stood  near  the  church.  And  besides  all  the  worldly 
cares  that  kept  feet  and  hands  busy,  the  minister  himself 
was  deeply  exercised  concerning  the  weighty  responsibility 
that  was  so  soon  to  rest  on  him.  He  belonged  to  that 
class  of  New  England  ministers  of  the  early  time  who 
felt  their  calling  as  an  awful  responsibility  laid  on  them  of 
God,  and  who  lived  and  wrought,  like  Milton, — 

"  As  ever  in  my  great  Taskmaster's  eye." 

And  the  taskmaster  conception  of  God,  though  neither 
the  highest  nor  the  truest,  furnished  a  goad  to  conscience 
which  made  stanch  and  sturdy  men  for  a  trying  period. 
Mr.  Parkman  writes  in  his  Journal,  October  9:  "My 
Business  about  this  time  was  reading  Ordination  sermons, 
and  wherever  y*"  minister's  duty  was  explained ;  especially 
Van  Mastricht  de  Ministerio  Ecclesiastico."     And  on  the 


THE  FIRST  SETTLED  MINISTER.  73 

14th  he  records:  "This  Day  I  Solemnly  Dedicated  to 
Humiliation  and  Prayer  to  prepare  myself  (by  y^  grace  of 
God)  for  y^  awfull  Time  approaching." 

The  mention  of  his  chief  reliance  for  instruction  in  the 
pastoral  office  is  suggestive  of  the  dearth  of  books  at  that 
day  on  topics  which  are  now  embarrassed  with  fulness  and 
variety  of  treatment.  It  is  quite  safe  to  venture  the  opin- 
ion that  none  of  the  young  men  who  in  the  last  ten  years 
have  entered  the  ministry  from  Westborough  ever  heard 
of  "  Van  Mastricht  de  Ministerio  Ecclesiastico."  No  pain- 
ful creeping  through  the  dreary  pages  of  a  Dutchman's 
bad  Latin  was  ever  imposed  on  them.  Instead,  libraries 
pour  out  their  treasures  at  their  feet;  learned  and  genial 
professors  on  homiletics  give  them  the  ripened  and  selected 
fruit  of  the  century's  thought.  By  contrast,  the  demure 
figure  of  this  young  man  just  come  of  age,  reading, 
under  the  shadow  of  a  great  dread,  his  two  or  three  pe- 
dantic books,  and  the  labored  and  formal  discourses  then 
available,  becomes  pathetic.  The  mind  of  the  present  day 
is  book-fed  to  repletion.  It  is  hard  to  realize  the  position 
of  those  who  lived  in  a  famine  of  literature.  Two  books 
lie  on  my  table  as  I  write,  inscribed  with  Ebenezer  Park- 
man's  name,  one  of  which  was  a  veritable  part  of  his 
accoutrement  at  this  time  of  pondering,  having  been  pur- 
chased in  1723.  It  is  an  octavo  of  558  pages,  bound  in 
calf  and  well  preserved,  printed  in  London  in  1707.  I 
give  the  titlepage  entire,  because,  though  such  reprints 
are  common  enough  now,  this  has  especial  interest  to  us 
as  indicating  the  material  of  which  the  small  library  of 
the  first  minister  of  Westborough  was  composed.  It  is 
as  follows :  — 


74  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


VERITAS  REDUX. 


Evangelical  TRUTHS 

Reftored : 


ho 

c 


o 
4= 


03 


God*  s  Eternal  Decrees^ 

The  Liberty  of  Man  s  Will^ 

Grace  and  Converjton, 

The  Extent  and  Efficacy  ^Chrift  V 

Redemption^  and 
Perjeverance  in  Grace, 

All  briefly  and  plainly  Stated  and  Determin'd 
according  to  the  Holy  Scriptures^  the  Ancient 
Fathers.,  and  the  Senfe  of  the  Church  of 
England. 

WITH 

A  Full  and  Satisfaftory  ANSWER  to  all  the 
0rguments;,  #bfecticn0  and  CatJils?  that  have 
been  made  ufe  of  by  any  Writers  againft  the  faid 
DOCTRINES. 

BEING    THE 
Firft  PART  of  the  Theological  TREATISES, 
which    are    to   compofe  a  Large    BODT   OF 
CHRISTIAN  DIVINITT. 


By   JOHN   EDWARDS,   D.  D. 


LONDON:    Printed    for   Jonathan    Robin/on,    John 
Lawrence.,  and  John  IVyat.     MDCCVII. 


THE   FIRST   SETTLED   MINISTER.  75 

The  author  of  this  treatise  was  a  clergyman  of  the 
Church  of  England,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge,  and  a  doc- 
tor of  divinity.  He  was  born  at  Hertford,  Feb.  26,  1637, 
graduated  at  twenty-four,  and  had  charge,  successively,  of 
Churches  in  Cambridge,  Bury  St.  Edmunds,  Colchester, 
and  Cambridge  again.  He  received  his  doctorate  in  1699, 
when  he  was  sixty-two  years  old.  From  that  time  he  be- 
came a  voluminous  writer  and  "  a  subtle,  able,  and  learned 
polemic"  of  the  high-Calvinistic  type.  When  he  pub- 
lished the  "  Veritas  Redux  "  he  was  seventy  years  old.  It 
is  of  no  little  assistance  in  comprehending  the  religious 
thought  of  the  time,  and  the  influences  which  moulded  this 
first  minister  of  Westborough,  and  through  him  left  their 
impress  on  the  generation,  to  glance  at  these  pages  which 
at  the  time  we  are  considering  were  under  his  eye.  Of 
the  subjects  treated  in  it,  the  first  —  The  Eternal  Decrees, 
or  Predestination  —  occupies  half  of  the  book,  being  then 
regarded  as  the  central  truth  of  all  theology.  There  are'' 
two  prefaces,  a  "  General  "  and  a  "  Particular,"  which  re- 
veal the  author's  personal  characteristics.  There  are  few 
more  exquisite  bits  of  unconscious  humor  anywhere  than 
in  these  introductory  essays.  Apologizing  for  his  fre- 
quent appearance  before  the  public,  he  justifies  it  by  the 
necessity  of  multiplying  treatises  "  in  this  Degenerate  Age, 
wherein  Christianity  is  ready  to  breathe  her  last,"  and  by 
a  comical  distortion  of  Eccl.  xii.  12:  "By  these,  my  son, 
be  admonished  of  making  many  books;  "  "  namely,  for  the 
promoting  of  Rehgion  and  Godliness."  This  "  admonish- 
ing "  is  to  be  interpreted  as  advising  "  to  compose  many 
Books,  and  as  it  were  without  End,"  even  though  much 
study  is  a  weariness  of  the  flesh.  As  to  his  own  qualifica- 
tions for  following  this  ingeniously  invented  advice,  he 
says :  — 


y6  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

"  If  the  abandoning  of  Prejudice  contributes  to  the  under- 
standing of  the  Doctrines  of  Religion,  I  may  be  allowed  to  say, 
that  I  'm  in  the  direct  way  to  understand  them  aright ;  for  I  have 
rejected  several  Notions,  Dogmas,  and  Sentiments,  which  Com- 
pany, Education,  Books,  view  of  Worldly  Advantages,  and  my 
own  Inclination  had  invited  me  to  embrace.  I  hope  it  will  give 
no  offence  if  I  tell  thee,  Reader,  that  I  reckon  there  are  few 
Persons  in  a  greater  Capacity  to  enquire  impartially  into  Truth, 
and  consequently  to  attain  to  it,  than  I  am,  because  I  have  no 
Biafs  or  Intereft  upon  me." 

At  the  close  of  the  "  particular  preface  "  he  shows 
unusual  consideration  for  the  purchasers  of  his  little 
octavo :  — 

"  I  have  endeavored  to  bring  the  Whole  within  this  moderate 
Volume,  that  I  might  not  be  overchargeable  to  the  Purchasers  of 
it.  Or  if  they  should  think  it  too  costly,  they  may  solace  them- 
selves with  this,  that  they  need  not  all  their  lives  be  at  any 
further  Expences.  For  I  may  be  permitted  to  say,  without  in- 
curring the  Imputation  of  Arrogance,  That  I  have  comprised  in 
this  narrow  Compass,  everything  that  can  be  said  with  relation 
to  these  Heads.  So  that  I  can  assure  the  Reader  he  will  never 
have  occasion  for  the  Future  to  lay  out  his  Money  on  any  Au- 
thors that  have  handled  these  Points.  Which  I  hope  will  prove 
a  Saving  Caution  to  him,  besides  the  Gain  and  Advantages 
which  will  accrue." 

This  is  delicious,  especially  as  an  introduction  to 
themes  which  lie  largely  beyond  the  range  of  knowledge, 
and  which  have  been  responsible  for  more  verbiage  and 
polemical  writing  than  any  others  which  have  exercised 
the  human  mind. 

In  regard  to  the  serious  teaching  of  the  work,  it  may 
suffice  to  condense  his  theory  of  the  divine  decrees  into 
a  few  sentences.  God  is  supreme  autocrat,  acting,  not 
rationally,  but  arbitrarily,  in  regard  to  Nature  and  man. 


THE   FIRST   SETTLED   MINISTER.  "J-J 

He  has  established  absolute  decrees  concerning  all  natural 
and  even  inanimate  things,  "  Particularly  concerning  that 
noted  Meteor  the  Rain."  "  The  number  of  the  Showers  of 
Rain  and  of  the  very  drops  of  them  is  determined  :  And  the 
particular  Places  and  Cities  which  shall  have  the  benefit  of 
them  are  also  appointed  "  (p.  2).  In  like  manner  God  is  an 
absolute  and  inflexible  fate  in  relation  to  man's  life.  "The 
Physician's  Care  and  Aid,  used  about  his  Rich  Patients,  are 
successless,  when  at  the  same  time  the  Shiftless  and  the 
Poor,  who  cant  go  to  the  cost  of  Physick,  escape  the  dan- 
ger of  it,  and  of  the  Disease,  and  are  soon  recovered." 
Doubtless  he  had  correctly  gathered  certain  facts  looking 
in  this  direction,  but  connected  the  mystery  piously  with 
divine  decrees,  rather  than  with  the  superiority  of  Nature's 
processes  of  healing  to  the  bungling  and  savage  methods 
of  the  physicians  of  his  day.  In  the  same  way  God  arbi- 
trarily discriminates  between  persons,  inasmuch  as  the 
same  causes  work  very  different  results  in  different  cases. 
And  his  comfort  for  the  afflicted  takes,  in  consequence, 
such  form  as  this :  "  Dry  up  your  tears.  Surcease  your 
extravagant  Sighs  and  Groans  when  your  Friends  take 
their  farewell  of  this  World.  .  .  .  Why  should  you  im- 
moderately lament  their  Death  when  they  could  not 
possibly  live  a  minute  longer?"  (p.  49).  And  yet  Chris- 
tianity had  been  in  the  world  seventeen  hundred  years 
when  some  of  its  ministers  had  only  such  cold  comfort 
to  give ! 

But  the  pitiless  theorist  has  a  more  bitter  pill  for  his 
readers.  It  is  the  eternal  and  deliberate  purpose  of  God 
"  to  leave  a  certain  number  of  men  in  their  Corrupt  State 
and  Guilt."  He  might  save  them,  but  he  will  not.  "  He 
might  have  hindered  the  Fall,  but  he  would  not."  "  He 
wills  sin    by  suffering  it   to    be,"  and   then  wills   not  to 


yS  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

redeem  from  it.  "  Tho'  Sin  be  not  good,  yet  t/iai  there 
shoicld  be  sin  is  good,  yea  necessary."  "  Thus  we  have 
gain'd  by  the  Fall,  and  (if  I  may  so  say)  God  hath  gained 
Hkewise."  Moreover,  "  This  [sin]  gives  God  an  oppor- 
tunity of  exerting  his  Vindictive  Righteousness  in  inflicting 
Punishment  on  Sinners."  Divine  Love  "must  pass  some 
by,  to  render  it  the  more  acceptable  to  others,  and  to  com- 
mend the  Discriminating  Favor  of  the  Most  High,"  "The 
inflicting  of  Punishment  on  incorrigible  Sinners,  and  con- 
sequently the  Decreeing  of  that  Punishment,  is  one  way 
whereby  the  Glory  of  God  is  exalted  :  Whence  it  is  that 
their  Punishment  is  pleasing  ajid  delight/til  to  him.''  This 
theological  speculator,  with  his  infantile  reasonings,  should 
have  stood  for  an  hour  on  the  slope  of  Olivet  beside  the 
Christ  who  was  weeping  over  doomed  Jerusalem. 

Morality  he  makes  one  thing  in  men,  and  another  in 
God ;  what  we  should  condemn  in  any  man  as  selfish  or 
cruel  or  unjust,  may  be  nothing  of  the  kind  in  God.  This 
is  the  sophism  to  which  eighteenth-century  Calvinism 
was  forced  to  resort  if  it  would  maintain  its  position.  If 
God  were  the  pitiless  autocrat  they  pictured  him,  and 
if  it  must  nevertheless  be  maintained  that  he  was  the 
Absolute  Justice,  then  must  words  be  juggled  with,  and 
justice  in  God  mean  something  else  than  any  justice  man 
ever  conceived. 

He  cannot  avoid  meeting  the  Scripture  statement  that, 
as  he  renders  it,  "  God  willeth  all  men  to  be  saved."  But 
how  does  he  meet  it?  Not  by  the  inference  that  if  God 
desires  all  men  to  be  saved,  their  loss  must  be  their  own 
choice  rather  than  his,  but  by  the  arbitrary  assumption 
that  when  God  speaks  thus  graciously  "  it  cannot  be  an 
Absolute  and  Definitive  Will  that  is  meant."  It  only 
means  that  God  willeth  some  of  all  mankind  to  be  saved. 


THE  FIRST  SETTLED  MINISTER.  79 

That  is,  it  is  only  when  God  wills  to  condemn  men  that 
the  will  is  absolute. 

It  might  seem  that  before  a  man  could  thus  chop  lame 
logic  in  cold  blood  concerning  the  divine  character  and 
the  fate  of  man,  he  must  have  had  the  human  heart  chilled 
out  of  him.  But  it  is  only  a  violent  divorcing  of  head  from 
heart  during  the  process  of  reasoning  about  a  "  scheme." 
By  and  by  his  better  feeling  begins  to  assert  itself.  He  is 
logically  forced  to  believe  in  an  absolute  decree  in  the  case 
of  every  man,  —  of  salvation  for  the  elect,  of  reprobation 
for  the  vast  mass  of  humanity.  But  something  in  him 
revolts.  There  is  a  divine  spark  of  kindliness  in  him  that 
is  better  than  anything  his  system  will  allow  him  to  toler- 
ate in  God,  and  it  is  so  strong  and  so  divine  an  instinct 
that  it  will  come  out.  Therefore  although  his  theory 
warns  him  and  disproves  his  better  thought,  and  shakes 
a  menacing  finger  in  his  face  every  step  of  the  way,  he 
proceeds  to  make  exceptions  to  it  which  he  confesses  he 
has  no  authority  for.  There  are  doubtless  those,  he  main- 
tains, for  whom  the  decrees  of  God  are  not  absolute ;  and 
thus  he  opens  "  a  Door  for  Hope  and  Relief."  "  I  con- 
sider three  Ranks  of  Persons,"  he  says,  whom  he  proceeds 
to  specify  as  the  elect,  the  reprobate,  and  "  perhaps  a 
third  sort,  who  fall  not  under  either  of  these  Decrees,  but 
are  in  a  state  of  Probation,  and  are  not  definitely  predes- 
tined to  Salvation  or  Damnation."  So  speaks  out  the 
better  feeling  in  this  delightful  child  of  seventy  years  of 
theologic  lore,  though  the  admission  makes  a  fatal  breach 
in  his  theory.  And  he  carries  his  illogical  hope  even  into 
heathen  lands,  and  sturdily  contends  that  though  no  hea- 
then can  be  saved  in  the  ordinary  way,  "  yet  in  an  extra- 
ordinary way  the  salvation  of  such  Heathens  [viz.,  those 
who  lived  after  the  coming  of  Christ]  is  not  to  be  doubted 


8o  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

of."  What  these  '•'  extraordinary  ways "  are,  he  specifies 
at  some  length  in  a  manner  which  demonstrates  his  hope- 
less lack  of  a  sense  of  humor,  to  say  nothing  of  intellectual 
breadth.  He  thinks  idiots  and  infants  will  be  saved,  or 
at  least  baptized  infants;  and  "  tho'  there  is  no  reason  to 
hold,  with  the  Turks,  that  all  Fools  and  Madmen  go  to 
Heaven,  yet  it  is  generally  believed  that  some  of  them 
do."  Some  heathens  may  be  saved  without  faith ;  some 
without  good  works  ;  some  because  God  does  deviate 
from  his  ways  in  certain  observable  cases.  "  All  Pagans 
are  not  peremptorily  to  be  sentenced  to  Destruction,  see- 
ing there  may  be  Ways  and  Methods  not  known  to  us 
which  God  may  think  fit  to  make  use  of  for  their  eternal 
Welfare."  He  "does  not  like"  the  theory  of  future  pro- 
bation. But  they  may  be  saved  without  their  knowledge, 
—  "as  I  may  have  my  Debts  paid  by  a  friend,  and  so  be 
discharged,  and  yet  have  no  knowledge  of  the  Person  who 
doth  me  that  kindness."  And  he  thinks  "we  may  reason- 
ably conceive  that  God  can  work  inherent  Sanctification 
on  Heathens  on  a  sudden."  So  cries  the  heart  of  the 
man ;  and  yet  on  the  very  next  page,  being  confronted 
again  by  his  theological  system,  to  which  he  feels  he  must 
be  loyal,  at  whatever  cost,  he  wheels  around  "  on  a  sud- 
den "  to  a  statement  which,  by  the  rules  of  logic,  nullifies 
all  his  speculations,  that  if  men  can  be  saved  by  the  light 
of  nature,  then  Christ's  coming  was  in  vain. 

And  here,  in  the  midst  of  all  his  inconsistencies,  his 
childish  reasonings,  his  firm  belief  in  the  infallibility  of  his 
Calvinism,  and  the  manful  struggles  of  his  heart  against 
its  inevitable  deductions,  we  leave  this  good  doctor  of 
divinity  who  helped  to  form  the  theological  mould  of 
Ebenezer  Parkman's  thought  in  his  young  manhood.  I 
have  presented  this  glimpse  because  it  helps  better  than 


THE   FIRST   SETTLED   MINISTER.  8 1 

any  description  to  make  vivid  the  habit  of  thought  and  the 
general  form  of  belief  which  characterized  the  community 
of  the  New  England  town  when  VVestborough  was  born. 
And  only  by  understanding  that  can  we  truly  estimate 
the  forces  that  generated  the  life  of  these  communities, 
where  religion  was  the  highest  concern,  and  the  minister 
the  undisputed  authority. 

The  day  for  which  all  previous  days  had  been  the  prepa- 
ration, at  length  arrived,  —  the  28th  of  October,  1724. 
The  Church  was  first  to  be  organized,  and  then  the  young 
minister  installed  over  it.  The  council  met  at  Mr.  Park- 
man's  house,  which  stood  near  the  rude  meeting-house. 
It  was  composed  of  the  following  churches :  the  church  in 
Framingham,  the  Rev.  John  Swift,  pastor;  the  church  in 
Marlborough,  the  Rev.  Robert  Breck,  pastor;  the  church 
in  Lancaster,  the  Rev.  John  Prentice,  pastor;  the  church 
in  Sudbury,  the  Rev.  Israel  Loring,  pastor;  the  church  in 
Mendon,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Dorr,  pastor;  and  the  church 

in  Weston,  the  Rev. Williams,  pastor.     The  Rev.  Mr. 

Breck,  of  Marlborough,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Swift,  of  Fram- 
ingham, were  unable  to  be  present,  leaving  but  four  clerical 
members  of  the  council. 

There  were  twelve  men,  besides  the  pastor,  who  were  to 
constitute  the  new  Church.  They  were  Ebenezer  Park- 
man,  Thomas  Forbush,  John  Pratt,  Edmund  Rice,  Isaac 
Tomlin,  John  Fay,  David  Maynard,  Thomas  Newton, 
James  Bradish,  David  Brigham,  Joseph  Wheeler,  James 
Ball,  and  Isaac  Tomlin,  Jr.  It  is  significant  of  the  times 
that  there  were  no  women's  names  on  the  list,  and  no 
women  in  the  Church  until  the  next  July,  when  six  were 
received,  evidently  wives  of  some  of  the  original  mem- 
bers, including  Mary,  the  wife  of  Mr.  Parkman.  The 
names  of  these  six  were  as  follows:    Anna  Rice,  Abigail 

6 


82  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

Forbush,  Mary  Parkman,  Elizabeth  Fay,  Dorcas  Forbush, 
and  Bathsheba  Pratt. 

A  covenant  had  already  been  prepared  by  Mr.  Park- 
man,  —  probably  from  the  forms  arranged  by  the  Rev. 
Peter  Thacher,  assistant-pastor  of  the  New  North  Church 
in  Boston,  of  which  Mr.  Parkman  was  a  member.  This 
had  at  a  previous  meeting  been  read,  considered,  and 
signed  by  the  candidates  for  Church  membership.  It  is 
here  given  complete,  as  copied  into  the  Church  records 
in  the  handwriting  of  Mr.  Parkman :  — 

Westborough  Church  Covenant. 

The  Day  being  arrived  (which  before  was  appointed  for  y' 
Gathering  a  Church  and  ordaining  a  Pastor  over  them),  and 
the  Rev'^  and  Beloved  Elders  and  Delegates  being  formed  into 
an  Ecclesiaftical  Council,  proceeded  in  very  Solemn  manner  to 
the  said  work.  The  Covenant,  which  was  signed  by  each  of  the 
members,  was  in  this  subfequent  form  :  — 

Westb  :  Octob  :  28,  1724. 

We  (whose  names  are  hereunto  Subfcribed,  Inhabitants  of 
the  Town  of  Westborough  in  New  England)  knowing  that  we 
are  very  prone  to  offend  and  provoke  the  Most  High  God,  both 
in  Heart  and  Life,  thro'  the  Prevalence  of  Sin  y*  dwelleth  in  us 
and  manifold  Temptations  from  without  us,  for  w''''  we  have 
great  reason  to  be  unfeignedly  humbled  before  Him  from  Day 
to  T>a.y, 

Do,  in  the  name  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Chrifl,  with  Dependence 
upon  the  gracious  AfTistance  of  his  holy  Spirit,  solemnly  enter 
into  Covenant  with  God  and  one  w"'  another,  according  to  God, 
as  followeth :  — 

I.  That  having  chosen  and  taken  the  Lord  Jehovah  to  be  our 
God,  we  will  fear  Him,  cleave  to  Him  in  Love,  and  serve  Him 
in  Truth  with  all  our  Hearts,  giving  up  oTelves  unto  Him  to  be 
His  People  in  all  things  ;  to  be  at  his  Direction  and  sovereign 
Difpofal ;  that  we  may  have  and  hold  Communion  with  him  as 


THE  FIRST  SETTLED   MINISTER.  83 

members  of  Chrift's  myftical  Body,  according  to  his  Revealed 
will  unto  our  Lives'  End. 

2.  We  alfo  bind  ourselves  to  bring  up  our  Children  and  Ser- 
vants in  the  Knowledge  and  Fear  of  God  by  holy  Inftruction 
according  to  our  best  Ability  :  and  in  special  by  the  use  of 
Orthodox  Catechisms,  that  the  True  Religion  may  be  main- 
tained in  our  Families  while  we  live. 

3.  And  we  further  promise  to  keep  close  to  the  Truth  of 
Chrifl,  endeavoring,  with  lively  Affection  toward  it  in  our  hearts, 
to  defend  it  againft  all  Oppofers  thereof,  as  God  shall  call  us  at 
any  time  thereunto.  Which  that  we  may  do.  We  Resolve  to  use 
the  Holy  Scriptures  as  our  Platform,  whereby  we  may  discern 
the  mind  of  Christ,  and  not  the  New  found  Inventions  of 
Men. 

4.  We  also  engage  ourselves  to  have  a  careful  inspection  over 
our  own  Hearts :  That  is,  so  as  to  endeavor,  by  the  virtue  of  the 
Death  of  Christ,  the  Mortification  of  all  our  sinful  Paffions, 
Worldly  Frames,  and  Disorderly  Affections,  whereby  we  may  be 
withdrawn  from  the  Living  God. 

5.  We  moreover  oblige  ourfelves  in  the  faithful  Improve- 
ment of  our  Ability  and  opportunity  to  worship  God  according 
to  all  the  Particular  Institutions  of  Christ  in  his  Church,  under 
Gofpel  Adminiflrations ;  as,  to  give  Attention  unto  the  Word  of 
God  ;  to  pray  unto  Him ;  to  fing  his  Praise ;  and  to  hold  com- 
munion each  with  other  in  the  ufe  of  both  the  Seals  of  the  Cove- 
nant of  Christ,  namely.  Baptism  and  the  Lord's  Supper. 

6.  We  do  likewise  promise  that  we  will  peacefully  submit  unto 
the  Holy  Discipline  appointed  by  Christ  in  his  Church  for 
offenders,  obeying  them  that  rule  over  us  in  the  Lord. 

7.  We  also  bind  ourfelves  to  walk  in  love  one  towards  another, 
endeavoring  our  mutual  Edification  ;  vifiting,  exhorting,  comfort- 
ing, as  occasion  serveth. 

And  warning  any  Brother  or  Sifter  which  offendeth,  not 
divulging  private  offences  irregularly,  but  heedfully  following 
the  several  Processes  laid  down  by  Christ  for  Church  dealing 
in  Matth.  18:  15,  16,  17;  willingly  forgiving  all  that  manifest 
to  the  Judgment  of  Charity  that  they  truly  repent  of  their 
Miscarriages. 


84  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

Now  the  God  of  peace,  that  brought  again  from  the  dead  our 
Lord  Jesus,  that  great  shepherd  of  the  sheep,  through  the  blood 
of  the  everlasting  covenant,  make  you  perfect  in  every  good 
work  to  do  his  will,  working  in  you  that  which  is  well  pleasing 
in  his  sight,  through  Jesus  Christ ;  to  whom  be  glory  for  ever 
and  ever.     Amen. 

The  covenant  having  been  subscribed  by  the  pastor 
elect  and  eleven  other  men,  the  council,  having  "  got  all 
things  in  readiness,  as  they  supposed,"  proceeded  in  sol- 
emn state  from  the  parsonage  to  the  meeting-house,  to 
begin  the  public  services  of  the  occasion. 

It  would  be  u'orth  something  to  us  to-day  if  we  could 
restore,  even  in  our  mind's  eye,  a  picture  of  that  autumn 
day  and  of  those  grave  and  reverend  men  as  they  walked 
in  stately  dignity  to  the  little  church.  Very  picturesque 
to  us  would  be  their  antique  garb,  with  small-clothes  and 
shoe-buckles,  the  clergy  in  bands  and  wigs  and  scholars* 
gowns.  Very  oppressive  to  our  lighter  spirits  would  be 
their  severe  and  unrelaxed  faces,  their  slow  and  solemn  gait, 
the  air  of  deep  awe  and  heavy  responsibility  which  wrapped 
them  about.  But  they  lived  in  a  stern  and  unkindly  era. 
Life  to  them  was  not  luxurious,  nor  even  comfortable. 
They  were  wrestling  with  a  wilderness ;  they  lived  under  a 
hard  and  stern  conception  of  God  that  made  life  tragic 
with  its  weight  of  accountability,  but  also  made  it  sturdy 
and  unflinching,  in  face  of  dire  necessity.  They  were  men 
of  integrity,  who  adorned  their  profession  of  religion.  The 
learning  of  the  ministers  was  not  large,  —  it  could  not  be 
broad  in  the  modern  sense,  but  it  was  careful  and  ready; 
their  manners  were  formal,  but  they  were  the  manners  of 
gentlemen.  They  were  autocrats  in  the  new  land  by  virtue 
of  their  commission  from  Heaven;  but  they  used  their 
great  powers  in  the  interests  of  good  order  and  virtue  and 
the  highest  welfare  of  the  communities  they  led. 


THE  FIRST   SETTLED  MINISTER,  85 

The  dead  leaves  of  late  autumn  rustled  under  their 
feet  as  they  walked.  The  fields,  robbed  of  their  harvests, 
sloped  away  to  the  meadows  as  they  do  to-day.  The 
rounded  hills  lay  brown  and  soft  to  the  southward;  far 
away  slumbered  Wachusett  in  unbroken  wilderness.  The 
new  meeting-house  —  a  plain,  square  building,  towerless, 
chimneyless,  without  even  a  porch  to  break  its  lines  — 
stood  awaiting  them  as  the  earnest  of  all  that  was  to  be  in 
the  future  that  lay  dark  to  them.  In  the  meeting-house 
were  waiting  the  plain  men  and  women  of  Westborough 
in  their  homespun  garb  (the  men  on  one  side  of  the 
aisle,  the  women  on  the  other),  awed  in  presence  of  the 
solemn  occasion  and  the  unwonted  assemblage  of  digni- 
taries. They  were  unattractive  in  outward  appearance, 
unless  one  searched  the  immobile  faces  for  the  lines 
of  character;  but  they  were  men  and  women  worthy  to 
lay  foundations,  because  they  could  lay  them  on  prin- 
ciples that  were  deep  and  enduring,  for  which  they  had 
sacrificed  already,  and  for  which  they  were  willing  to  sac- 
rifice. Around  the  outer  walls,  like  sentry-boxes,  were  the 
pews  of  the  more  wealthy  proprietors,  and  in  front  the 
high  stairs  led  to  the  pulpit,  to  be  filled  soon  with 
the  "  Rev"*  and  Beloved  Elders,"  to  whom  the  people  gave 
unmixed  reverence. 

The  public  exercises  thereupon  began.  The  Rev. 
Joseph  Dorr,  of  Mendon,  made  the  opening  prayer; 
the  sermon — which,  we  may  be  sure,  was  not  lacking 
in  length  or  solemn  formality  of  style  —  was  by  the 
Rev.  John  Prentice,  of  Lancaster.  Then  came  a  conse- 
crating prayer  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Williams,  of  Weston, 
setting  the  young  minister  apart  to  his  sacred  office. 
The  Rev.  John  Prentice  then  came  once  more  to  the 
front,  laying  the   solemn    charge   upon   the   pastor;    the 


86  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Rev.  Israel  Loring,  of  Sudbury,  gave  him  the  right  hand 
of  fellowship,  and  the  graver  duties  of  the  day  were  com- 
plete. Then  the  young  pastor  rose  and  read  a  psalm  to 
be  sung,  and  after  the  singing  pronounced  the  benediction 
and  dismissed  the  people. 

The  day  which  Mr.  Parkman  had  called,  two  weeks 
before,  "y*  awfull  Time  approaching,"  was  over.  Deep 
thoughts  were  stirring  in  his  breast  that  night  as  the  sun 
went  down,  as  the  pages  of  his  Journal  attest.  It  had 
been  the  grandest  day  of  his  life,  and  he  resolved,  with 
youthful  ardor,  to  bring  all  other  days  to  its  high  standard. 
And  again  and  again,  as  the  years  went  by,  does  he  refer 
to  it,  in  solemn  language,. as  the  great  day  of  days  to  him, 
to  whose  high  promise  and  anticipation  he  feels  that  he 
has  but  poorly  responded. 

The  people  rested  in  the  satisfaction  of  a  great  under- 
taking accomplished,  and  a  life-alliance,  full  of  promise, 
consummated.  They  were  now  a  town  in  very  truth, 
since  they  had  the  institutions  of  religion.  Nor  were  their 
congratulations  vain.  The  newly  ratified  pastorate  proved 
to  be  one  every  way  honorable  and  beneficial  to  the  com- 
munity. For  more  than  half  a  century  from  that  day, 
until  his  slender  form  grew  bent,  and  his  dark  locks  white, 
he  administered  his  office  in  sanctity  and  honor.  And 
the  town  grew  around  him  and  divided  into  two,  and 
grew  again  and  changed  its  centre,  and  built  •  a  new 
church,  and  filled  it  full  and  enlarged  it,  and  bore  its  burden 
of  the  time,  and  its  share  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  be- 
fore his  hand  grew  weary  and  laid  down  the  pen.  But  it 
grew  through  all  those  years  in  the  lines  of  sturdy  worth, 
and  laid  foundations  for  our  time  broad  and  deep.  May 
it  be  long  before  these  true  and  patient  men  and  women 
are  forgotten  here  where  their  work  was  done ! 


CHAPTER   VII. 

1724-1730. 

RECORDS.  —  CHURCH     AFFAIRS.  —  SCHOOLS.  —  EARTH- 
QUAKE. —  GROWTH    OF    THE    TOWN. 

''  I  ^HE  years  following  were  uneventful.  It  is  not  of  the 
old  days  of  legend  and  romance  that  we  are  study- 
ing, nor  of  nations  and  dynasties,  whose  brave  figures  of 
kings  and  nobles,  with  their  history  of  wars  and  diplo- 
macies, excite  our  imagination  by  taking  us  into  scenes 
where  we  are  not  likely,  most  of  us,  ever  to  go  hi  propria 
persona;  but  we  are  trying  to  bring  back  a  little  of  the 
light  and  color  of  the  days  of  our  fathers  in  a  simple  New 
England  town  before  it  had  been  touched  with  the  spirit 
of  the  modern  time.  There  is,  indeed,  very  little  of  the 
life  and  warmth  of  that  time  left  in  the  musty  records  and 
meagre  pictures  that  remain  to  us  now.  We  are  very 
thankful  that  these  records,  quaint  and  interesting  as  they 
are  in  their  form,  are  so  complete  and  so  well  preserved. 
Here,  for  instance,  is  this  old  book  of  Church  records, 
written  in  the  neat  but  cramped  hand  of  Ebenezer  Parkman, 
his  entries  covering  the  long  period  from  Oct.  28,  1724, 
to  Oct.  27,  1782.  It  is  a  small  octavo  volume,  carefully 
rebound  a  few  years  ago  by  the  thoughtful  care  of  Samuel 
M.  Griggs,  and  good  for  another  hundred  and  fifty  years 
of  reverent  handling.  There  are  evidences  of  great  pains 
on  the  part  of  the  old  minister  —  who  was  far  from  old 
when  he  began  to  keep  it  —  to  make  it  neat,  and  even 


88  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

ornamental.  The  heading  on  the  titlepage  is  in  red  ink, 
as  bright,  apparently,  as  the  day  it  was  written.  There  is 
a  margin  of  an  inch  on  every  page,  leaving  but  small 
room  for  record,  but  so  closely  is  it  written  that  the  printer 
would  have  to  use  small  type  to  put  as  much  on  a  page 
of  similar  size.  On  the  fly-leaf  following  the  titlepage 
are  the  following  mottoes,  a  trifle  ambitious,  perhaps, 
and  high  sounding,  but  natural  enough  to  the  eighteenth 
century  youth  of  twenty-one  fresh  from  classic  Harvard 
and  full  of  the  importance  of  assuming  his  first  parochial 
charge : — 

And  Moses  wrote  their  goings  out,  according  to  their  jour- 
neys, by  the  commandment  of  the  Lord,  and  these  are  they. 
—  Numbers  xxiii.  2. 

Ubi  Tres,  Ecclesia  est,  licet  laici.^  —  Tertull.,  Exhortatione 
Castitatis. 

In  church  dealing  this  rule  is  to  be  observed,  scil., 

"  Cuncta  prius  tentanda :  sed  immedicabile  vulnus  ense  red- 
dendum est,  ne  pars  sincera  trahetur."  '^ 

It  is  a  rule,  —  "  Ubi  nihil  certe  statuit  Scriptura,  mos  populi 
Dei."  3 

"  Instituta  majorum  (modo  sint  secundum  Normam  Divinam), 
pro  lege  tenenda  sunt."  * 

In  the  library  of  the  Antiquarian  Society  at  Worcester 
there  is  a  httle  pile  of  manuscript  —  written  in  the  same 
minute  hand,  on  the  same  diminutive  page,  but  always 
preserving  its    margin    for  notes,   corrections,  and  refer- 

1  Where  there  are  three,  there  is  a  church,  even  though  they  are  laymen. 

2  All  things  must  first  be  tried  ;  but  an  incurable  wound  must  be  cut  away 
by  the  sword,  lest  the  sound  part  suffer. 

»  Where  Scripture  lays  down  no  fixed  rule,  the  custom  of  the  people  is  of 
God. 

*  The  ordinances  of  the  Elders  (provided  they  are  in  accordance  with  the 
Divine  rule)  must  be  held  as  law. 


RECORDS.  89 

ences,  —  which  constitutes  a  part  of  the  Diary  of  Mr. 
Parkman  during  a  period  of  fifty  years.  There  were  other 
volumes  of  the  Diary  and  other  manuscripts  in  possession 
of  a  great-grandson  of  the  old  minister,  Samuel  Parkman 
Jones,  of  Holliston;  but  they  were  burned  in  a  fire  which 
occurred  in  his  house  some  years  ago.  There  are  also, 
in  the  Antiquarian  rooms,  many  sermons,  in  the  same  fa- 
miliar style  of  execution,  requiring  almost  as  much  effort 
now  to  decipher  as  it  originally  did  to  write  them. 

Of  no  less  interest  is  the  first  volume  of  the  Town 
Records.  This  contains  the  records  of  meetings  from  the 
very  date  of  incorporation.  The  book  itself,  however,  is 
not  quite  so  old,  having  been  purchased  in  1727.  The 
town  ordered  it  to  be  procured  in  1722;  but  nothing  was 
done  in  a  hurry  in  those  days,  and  as  it  took  five  years  to 
build  the  little  barn  of  a  meeting-house,  it  took  no  less  to 
get  the  book  that  was  to  last  long  after  the  meeting-house 
had  been  forgotten.  It  was  John  Fay,  the  first  "  town 
dark,"  who  attended  to  the  business,  and  was  granted,  at 
a  town  meeting  held  Feb.  12,  1728,  the  sum  of  "  2i-.  6d. 
a  day  for  transcribing  the  town's  acts  into  this  new  book." 
The  task  was  accomplished  in  four  days  and  a  half,  and 
netted  him  lis.  ^d. 

But  much  as  there  is  of  interest  in  these  old  documents, 
it  is  only  after  long  familiarity  with  them  that  we  come 
to  feel  the  breath  of  the  time  upon  our  faces,  or  to  catch 
a  glimpse  of  the  men  and  women  as  they  were.  The 
men  were  as  yet  mostly  hard-working  farmers,  and  they 
had  to  subdue  the  untamed  fields  without  the  aid  of 
modern  tools  and  machinery.  Nor  had  they  any  work- 
men to  take  the  brunt  of  the  labor  off  their  own  hands. 
The  boys  had  to  begin  early ;  now  and  then  a  less  thrifty 
man  "hired   out;"  here  and  there  one  could    afford  to 


90  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

have  a  negro  slave.  But  there  was  little  time  for  idleness, 
nor  was  it  respectable.  The  one  thing  these  men  had  no 
patience  with  was  a  shiftless  body  who  could  not  be  sup- 
ported without  aid  from  the  rest.  The  women  had  enough 
to  do  with  the  household  and  the  rearing  of  the  family 
and  the  spinning  and  weaving  of  the  stuff  for  clothing; 
for  he  was  a  wealthy  man  who  could  afford  anything  other 
than  homespun.  There  were  great  heart-burnings  at  one 
time  owing  to  the  attempt  of  one  of  the  well-to-do  matrons 
to  outdo  the  minister's  wife  in  the  matter  of  a  set  of  furs ; 
and  thereafter  the  cats  of  the  neighborhood  walked  cir- 
cumspectly, lest  they  should  have  post-juortem  exaltation 
to  the  dignity  of  fur-bearing  animals.  In  winter,  when  the 
farms  lay  idle,  there  was  enough  to  do  to  cut  and  haul  the 
wood  for  the  year,  for  twenty  cords  would  do  little  but 
go  roaring  up  the  vast  fireplace,  and  twenty  more  were 
needed  to  do  the  warming  and  the  cooking  en  route. 
The  young  men  and  boys,  tough,  hardy  fellows,  were 
fond  of  sports,  as  boys  are  everywhere ;  but  there  was 
little  time  for  them,  except  by  the  way,  on  a  public  occa- 
sion, or  after  a  meeting  of  some  sort,  when  wrestling 
was  the  great  thing  in  vogue,  and  the  champion  had  a 
certain  glory  in  the  talk  of  the  tov/n.  In  the  evenings  — 
which  were  short,  for  the  early  riser  must  be  off  to  bed 
with  the  chickens  —  there  was  the  mug  of  cider  in  the 
chimney-corner,  or  the  stronger  flip ;  and  the  toddy-stick 
was  not  without  its  use  when  the  neighbors  dropped  in, 
or  the  minister  cast  a  solemnity  on  the  company  with 
his  dignity  and  his  wig  and  bands  and  the  magisterial 
authority  that  kept  the  young  life  in  repression. 

The  little  church  had  not  as  yet  more  than  half  an  ex- 
istence. It  did  not  hold  its  first  communion  till  the  7th  of 
March,  1725,  and  it  had  at  that  time  but  fourteen  mem- 


CHURCH  AFFAIRS.  91 

bers,  with  no  woman  among  them,  and  no  officers  but  the 
pastor.  The  vessels  which  were  used  on  this  occasion 
must  have  been  from  the  household  store  of  some  one  of 
them,  for  the  first  piece  of  service  they  owned  was  a 
flagon  presented  the  same  year  to  the  church  by  "  a  friend 
of  its  welfare  in  Boston."  It  was  fifteen  years  later  before 
they  had  a  baptismal  basin,  which,  when  it  came,  must 
have  been  a  fixed  font;  for  we  read  that  in  1735,  los.  was 
given  for  the  purpose,  and  four  years  later  loi".  more  was 
added,  "  by  the  same  person,  who  also  bought  the  basin 
Dec,  1739,  and  devised  it  to  ye  Church's  use,"  to- 
gether with  "  a  frame  for  the  basin,  with  its  Shaft  and 
Skrews,  &c.,  price  20s.,"  which  "  was  given  and  devoted  by 
ye  same." 

Another  note  of  the  time  is  seen  in  a  bit  of  record  in 
the  minister's  Diary  in  January,  1726.  We  have  seen  how 
slowly  everything  was  accomplished  in  the  way  of  public 
works,  whether  in  the  building  of  the  meeting-house,  or 
the  purchase  of  a  town-book,  or  the  settling  of  a  minister. 
The  same  deliberatiorir  infected  the  habits  of  the  people  on 
Sabbath  morning.  "  I  observe,"  writes  the  young  minis- 
ter, "  a  general  delinquency  in  our  people  in  coming  to 
meeting,  through  which  I  am  obliged  to  wait  near  half  an 
hour,  or  altogether,  as  it  has  sometimes  proved,  before  I 
could  begin  the  exercises  of  worship."  Doubtless  there 
are  those  who  will  take  malicious  comfort  in  finding  such 
venerable  antiquity  attaching  to  this  custom ;  nevertheless 
it  is  the  historian's  duty  to  be  truthful.  An  emphatic 
illustration  of  this  lagging  deliberation  occurred  in  con- 
nection with  the  appointment  of  the  first  deacons.  They 
had  been  nominated  as  early  as  February,  1725;  but 
it  had  been  difficult  to  assemble  the  little  church  for 
business,  so  that  more  than  two  years  and  a  half  elapsed 


92  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

before  any  further  action  was  taken.  On  the  5th  of  Octo- 
ber, 1727,  a  meeting  was  called  to  "  confirm  the  previous 
choice  or  make  a  new  one,  and  also  to  consider  the  want 
of  sufficient  vessels  to  carry  on  the  orderly  celebration  of 
the  Eucharist ;  "  for  as  yet  they  had  only  the  flagon  pre- 
sented in  1725.     Mr.  Parkman  says:  — 

"  The  meeting  was  opened  with  Prayer  to  the  Supream 
Bishop  of  the  Church  for  Divine  Direction  and  Conduct  in 
the  Affair  undertaken.  The  Address  ended,  the  Ends  proposed 
were  declared ;  but  Examining  into  the  Number  present,  and 
Comparing  them  with  those  that  were  not  with  us,  we  found 
there  was  but  a  minor  Part  of  the  Church.  Wherefore,  Con- 
sidering with  all  the  Importance  of  Every  Such  Matter  in  a 
Church  (as  hath  reference  to  its  officers),  any  proceeding  to  the 
Business  mainly  designed  was  by  every  one  declined ;  and  since 
there  must  be  a  New  Appointment,  the  other  matter  above  men- 
tioned was  likewise  deferred  to  another  Opportunity  after  it 
was  somewhat  discoursed  about.  So  y'  having  again  Suppli- 
cated a  Benediction  from  God  &  appointed  our  Reassembling 
on  this  Day  Se'nnight,  the  meeting  concluded." 

Special  pains  were  taken  to  notify  the  absentees,  but 
at  the  adjourned  meeting  there  were  only  eleven  of  the 
twenty-four  male  members  present.  Considerable  discus- 
sion arose  as  to  the  validity  of  action  by  a  minority;  but 
they  at  length  determined  to  proceed,  and  chose  by  writ- 
ten ballots,  with  a  good  degree  of  unanimity,  John  Fay 
and  Isaac  Tomlin  as  deacons.  They  accepted  the  office 
in  January,  1728.  The  meeting  further  assessed  a  tax 
of  two  shillings  on  every  male  member,  to  purchase  "  a 
flagon  holding  two  quarts,  and  two  Pint  Tankards,  also  a 
Bason  for  water  of  Baptism." 

On  the  29th  and  30th  of  October  New  England  was 
shaken  by  an  earthquake  of  considerable  force.  The 
earth  trembled  perceptibly,  and  the  houses  rocked.     The 


EARTHQUAKE.  93 

effect  upon  the  simple-hearted  and  religiously  trained 
people  was  violent.  They  ran  into  the  streets  crying 
to  God  for  mercy,  sure  that  the  calamity  was  a  direct 
expression  of  His  personal  displeasure  for  their  sins; 
for  so  they  were  uniformly  taught  to  regard  all  alarm- 
ing natural  phenomena.  The  ministers  everywhere  "  im- 
proved "  the  occasion,  to  warn  the  people  of  their 
transgressions,  which  were  thus  seen  to  be  threatening 
them  with  the  judgments  of  God.  In  December  the  Gov- 
ernor appointed  a  fast  on  account  of  it;  and  as  late  as 
February,  1728,  Mr.  Parkman  used  it  at  a  church  meeting 
to  enforce  a  due  sense  of  the  importance  of  such  meetings, 
and  of  observing  law  and  order  in  the  conduct  of  them. 
The  meeting  was  called  to  consider  some  charges  against 
Josiah  Newton,  "  military  clerk,"  afterward  deacon ;  and 
the  address  of  the  pastor,  as  indicating  his  strong  con- 
victions regarding  church  government,  and  illustrating  his 
style,  is  of  sufficient  interest  to  quote: — 

"  The  church  had  in  y^  Next  place  a  serious  and  warm 
Discourse  offered  by  y^  Pastor,  tending  to  and  pressing  y^ 
Consideration  of  y^  Momentousness  and  authority  of  church 
meetings  and  y^  very  good  or  very  Evil  Aspect  they  may  have 
in  y^  church  :  y^  awfull  account  to  be  given  in  to  y^  great  Lord 
and  Supream  Bishop,  of  our  Behaviour  and  management  while 
together  in  this  manner:  The  Fatal  mischiefs  of  Divisions:  ye 
Necessity  of  Caution  in  the  Contentious  Times,  especially  while 
under  f  awful  Rebukes  of  Heaven :  upon  y^  whole,  y'  we  ought 
to  keep  ourselves  under  y^  narrowest  watch,  and  carefully  ob- 
serve y^  Rules  of  y=  Platform  of  church  Discipline,  it  being  y^ 
Foundation  y'  wc  (as  yet)  are  upon." 

It  provokes  a  smile  to-day  that  men  should  sincerely 
believe  that  an  earthquake  was  sent  for  the  special  pur- 
pose of  warning  men  to  observe  the  rules  of  church  disci- 


94  EARLY   HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

pline;  but  the  belief  was  honest,  and  their  use  of  it 
regarded  as  entirely  legitimate.  Science  had  not  yet  il- 
lumined the  general  public,  and  "  seismic  force "  was  an 
unknown  term.  Mr.  Parkman  held  the  same  theories  for 
himself  that  he  used  to  hold  his  people  in  leash,  as  is 
strikingly  illustrated  in  the  following  year.  In  the  begin- 
ning of  1729  he  was  taken  ill,  and  the  malady  proved  long 
and  serious.  A  fast  was  appointed  in  his  behalf  February 
9th,  but  in  the  following  November  he  was  still  unable  to 
preach,  and  the  town  voted  him  /^lO  extra,  in  spite  of  the 
"  desents  "  of  Samuel  Fay  and  Samuel  Forbush,^  and  three 
weeks  later  voted  to  provide  for  "  trainchant  preaching." 
Even  in  the  March  following,  the  town  is  supplying  the 
pulpit.  An  entry  in  Mr.  Parkman's  Diary,  July  8,  1729,  is 
of  special  interest  for  its  quaintness  of  metaphor  and  its 
revelation  of  the  working  of  his  mind:  — 

"  I  have  warning  from  God  by  my  Infirmities  that  I  must  re- 
move from  my  Temporal  Possessions.  This  clay  Tabernacle  I 
now  Inhabit  Cracks,  and  threatens  me  y'  it  must  Dissolve :  'T  is 
but  Earthen  ware,  and  it  doth  not  Sound  whole.  A  little  matter 
will  dash  it  to  pieces. 

"  Now  what  do  I  know  about  any  J?ig/if  I  have  to  an  Eternal 
Inheritance,  to  a  Building  of  God,  an  house  not  made  with 
hands,  wherein  I  may  spend  an  happy  Immortality,  since  I  am 
upon  the  move  ?  " 

So  wrote  the  young  man  of  twenty-five,  in  great  physical 
depression.  But  youth  and  hardihood  triumphed  even 
over  that  long  year's  feebleness,  and  in  the  spring  of  1730 
he  returned  to  work. 

1  That  Forbes  and  Forbush  were  originally  the  same  name  appears  from 
a  record  in  Mr.  Parkman's  Diary  in  1727,  Aug.  22:  "Rode  to  Mr.  Forces' 
and  married  Com.  Cook  and  Eunice  Forbush;  so  they  will  spell  their 
name." 


CHURCH   AFFAIRS.  95 

One  more  incident  illustrative  of  the  times  is  in  place 
here.  On  the  24th  of  May,  1730,  not  long  after  the  pas- 
tor's return  to  his  pulpit,  Deacon  Fay  presented  a  brief 
confession  to  the  church  "  for  his  irregular  conduct  on 
May  3d,  when  attempting  a  Speech  to  y^  Congregation 
after  y^  usual  exercises  were  finished ;  "  of  which  he  says 
that  "  how  zealously  and  innocently  soever  it  could  char- 
itably be  supposed  to  be  meant,  it  was  neveryiess  very 
imprudent  and  of  ill  tendency,  for  it  was  immediately 
answered  by  Lieut.  Forbush.  He  again  reply'*  with  ex- 
pressions of  Passion  and  Threat,  upon  which  issued  much 
Disturbance  altogether  Criminall  &  Surprising  upon  the 
Lord's  Day  and  after  our  holy  imployment."  Thus  far 
the  good  deacon,  whose  spirit  is  most  admirable  and 
Christian.  The  lieutenant  had  not  yet  advanced  so  far 
in  self-mastery,  and  refused  to  confess;  and  it  was  not  till 
July,  1734,  more  than  four  years  later,  that  his  confession 
came  tardily  in. 

In  September,  1725,  there  had  been  a  time  of  affection- 
ate interest  and  anxiety  at  the  parsonage,  as  the  frank  and 
simple  record  of  the  Diary  shows;  and  on  the  14th  a 
daughter  was  born  to  the  young  couple.  Five  days  later 
the  wee  thing  was  taken  to  the  meeting-house  and  bap- 
tized with  due  solemnities,  the  father  and  mother  of  the 
young  pastor  being  present,  and  his  father  holding  the 
child  for  its  own  father's  consecration.  "  I  called  it,"  says 
the  young  man,  with  the  beautiful  simplicity  of  affection, 
"  by  my  wife's  name,  Mary."  This  was  the  first  of  sixteen 
new-comers  that  greeted  Mr.  Parkman  during  the  thirty- 
six  years  following.  The  New  England  stock  had  not 
reached  the  time  of  its  decline ;  it  had  all  the  vigor  and 
vitality  of  the  old  English  blood.  Not  even  the  ancient 
Hebrew  could  outvie  the  Puritan  in  singing, — 


96'  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

"  As  arrows  in  the  hand  of  a  mighty  man, 
So  are  the  children  of  youth. 

Happy  is  the  man  that  hath  his  quiver  full  of  them : 
They  shall  not  be  ashamed, 
When  they  speak  with  their  enemies  in  the  gate." 

There  were  two  brothers  Fay,  near  the  beginning  of  the 
eighteenth  century,  who  lived  on  the  "  Fay  Farm,"  and 
who  had,  as  the  years  went  by,  the  one  twenty-two,  and 
the  other  twenty-four  children.  As  they  were  cousins, 
and  lived  near  each  other,  it  was  desirable  not  to  have  the 
same  names  in  the  two  families ;  and  before  the  forty-six 
had  all  made  their  debut,  it  became  comically  difficult  to 
find  Scripture  names,  and  the  latest  comers  had  to  take 
what  they  could  get. 

The  next  step  forward  was  the  establishment  of  a 
school.  Thus  far  they  had  done  without.  The  church 
must  come  first,  by  law  as  well  as  by  conviction.  And 
the  towns  were  slow  in  the  adoption  of  public  measures. 
Had  not  the  Colony  spurred  them  up,  there  is  no  telling 
when  the  reputation  of  our  fathers  for  zeal  in  education 
would  have  been  born.  As  a  whole,  they  were  not  eager 
for  schools.  The  wisest  of  them  saw  the  necessity,  and 
pressed  for  them ;  but  they  had  to  work  hard  to  accom- 
plish their  ends.  It  was  well,  therefore,  that  on  the  statute- 
book  was  this  Act  of  1647: — 

"  It  being  one  of  the  chief  projects  of  Satan  to  keep  men 
from  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  as  in  former  times  keep- 
ing them  in  unknown  tongues,  so  in  these  latter  times  by  per- 
suading from  the  use  of  tongues,  that  so  at  least  the  true  use 
and  meaning  of  the  original  might  be  clouded  and  corrupted  by 
false  glosses  of  deceivers  ;  to  the  end  that  learning  may  not  be 
buried  in  the  graves  of  our  forefathers  in  church  and  common- 
wealth, the  Lord  assisting  our  endeavors  : 

"  It  is  therefore  ordered  by  this  Court  and  authority  thereof, 
that  every  township  within  this  jurisdiction,  after  the  Lord  hath 


THE  SCHOOL.  97 

increased  them  to  the  number  of  fifty  householders,  shall  forth- 
with appoint  one  within  their  towns  to  teach  all  such  children 
as  shall  resort  to  him,  to  write  and  read,  whose  wages  shall  be 
paid  either  by  the  parents  or  masters  of  such  children,  or  by  the 
inhabitants  in  general,  by  way  of  supply,  as  the  major  part  of 
those  that  order  the  prudentials  of  the  town  shall  appoint ;  pro- 
vided that  those  that  send  their  children  be  not  oppressed  by 
paying  much  more  than  they  can  have  them  taught  for  in  other 
towns." 

The  fine  for  non-compliance  was  fixed  at  ^lO.  Every 
town  of  a  hundred  families  must  also  have  a  grammar- 
school.  Failure  to  comply  with  these  laws  was  sure  to 
be  followed  by  the  "  presentation  "  of  the  delinquent  town 
before  the  General  Court.  Westborough  had  already  been 
presented  once,  for  delay  in  providing  the  town  pound, 
and  encountered  the  same  annoyance  in  1753  for  not 
having  a  grammar-school ;  but  this  time  it  acted  promptly, 
and,  the  religious  institution  being  well  started,  took  the 
next  step  forward,  and  on  the  3d  of  October,  1726,  voted 
to  have  a  school  kept  in  the  town  six  months,  and  chose 
Daniel  Warren  and  Edward  Baker  school  committee.  The 
former  was  one  of  the  founders  of  the  town,  holding  a 
large  farm  east  of  "  the  Plain,"  part  of  which  is  still  occu- 
pied by  some  of  his  descendants.  He  was  one  of  the 
most  prominent  leaders  in  town  affairs  for  a  long  time. 
The  latter  was  a  young  man  of  about  thirty,  who  came 
afterward  to  have  a  leading  influence,  especially  in  edu- 
cational and  religious  matters.  This  committee  was  in- 
structed "  to  procure  a  suitable  schoolmaster,  to  teach 
children  to  Read,  write,  and  Sipher;  and  to  provide  en- 
tertainment for  s""  schoolmaster  during  the  s'^  six  months ; 
and  also  to  provide  a  place  or  places  for  the  school  to 
be  kept  in."  Edward  Baker  went  to  Brookfield,  and  found 
there   a   certain  Joshua  Townsend,  who   for  the  modest 

7 


98  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

sum  of  ;^i8  (then  about  ^35)  was  willing  to  teach  six 
months  in  three  different  sections  of  the  town,  and  who 
from  that  time  for  twelve  or  thirteen  years  at  least,  was 
the  pedagogue  of  Westborough.  It  is  greatly  to  be 
regretted  that  we  have  no  materials  from  which  to  con- 
struct the  portrait  of  Dominie  Townsend.  The  school- 
master of  that  day  had  a  simple  task,  requiring  no 
erudition,  only  a  "faculty"  for  instruction  and  for  redu- 
cing the  youthful  mind  to  a  proper  state  of  reverence 
for  authority.  The  school-room  was  in  a  private  house, 
two  months  at  a  time  in  each  of  the  three  sections  of  the 
town,  which,  at  that  time  including  Northborough,  was 
large.  There  were  no  school-houses  for  forty  years  after- 
ward. And  even  the  scanty  salary  of  ;!^i8  was  not  always 
paid  without  grudging.  In  that  winter  of  1 726-1 727  the 
town  was  evidently  a  little  disturbed  at  the  bills  which 
were  presented  in  connection  with  this  schoolmaster:  ten 
shillings  to  Edward  Baker  "  for  fetching  him  from  Brook- 
field ;  "  £1  4s.  to  David  Brigham  for  entertaining  him 
one  month;  and  ;£^4  16.$'.  for  entertainment  elsewhere. 
Consequently,  when  the  proposition  came  up,  Aug.  28, 
1727,  to  employ  him  another  six  months,  the  town  voted 
to  do  so,  paying  ;^i8  as  before,  but  "he  paying  for  his 
Diet."  It  would  seem  that  he  had  some  hesitation  about 
accepting  this,  as  well  he  might  have ;  but  he  was  prom- 
ised an  additional  pound  as  a  compromise  by  Joseph 
Wheeler,  which  the  town  ratified  the  next  February,  when 
it  was  in  better  mood.  But  in  the  following  year  (1729), 
Thomas  Ward,  one  of  the  residents  of  the  north  end  of  the 
town,  formally  entered  his  dissent  on  the  town  records 
against  paying  the  schoolmaster  .3^18  for  the  last  half 
year. 

Remembering  the  scarcity  and  costliness  of  books  at 


THE   SCHOOL.  99 

this  period,  the  absence  of  newspapers,  and  the  seclusion 
of  communities,  it  is  evident  that  the  student  of  that  time 
was  forced  to  curb  his  ambition  within  narrow  limits.  A 
pathetic  little  scrap  of  paper  once  fell  in  my  way,  in  a  pro- 
bate office  of  one  of  the  counties  of  Massachusetts,  which 
conveyed  a  very  striking  impression  of  the  condition  of 
these  pioneers  of  New  England  education.  It  was  the 
schedule  of  the  library  and  effects  of  a  Massachusetts 
schoolmaster  in  the  reign  of  George  II.  It  consisted,  be- 
sides notes  and  bonds  for  money  due  him  as  a  teacher  and 
unpaid  at  his  death,  of  a  meagre  bit  of  personal  property: 
"  Six  linning  shirts,  a  gown,  a  Broadcloth  coate,  a  sadel 
and  Bridel,  Stockens,  Briches,  neckloaths,  wescats,  an  old 
knife,  and  a  come."  So  runs  the  execrable  English  of  the 
poor  Dominie's  executors.  The  rest  of  the  estate  was 
a  library  of  fifty-six  volumes;  but  how  unappetizing! 
Thirty-three  of  the  books  were  catechisms,  psalters,  prim- 
ers, and  hymn-books ;  the  rest  were  such  as  "  Mr.  White- 
field's  jurnel,"  "two  books  jntitled  A  preservation  from 
Sin  and  folly,"  "  Siance  of  Being,  with  Its  affections," 
*'  The  young  man's  Best  Companion,"  "  ye  youth's  in- 
structed in  ye  jnglish  tongue ;  "  with  some  sermons  and 
tracts.  No  gleam  of  the  world's  best  literature ;  no  scrap 
of  the  endless  stores  of  knowledge  which  to-day  make 
the  task  of  selection  so  much  more  difficult  than  that  of 
acquisition.  The  familiar  oratory  about  the  profound  con- 
victions of  the  fathers  who  always  "  planted  the  meeting- 
house and  the  school-house  side  by  side  on  every  hill-top," 
assumes  too  much.  There  were  men  who,  like  Edward 
Baker  of  Westborough,  believed  in  education,  and  sacri- 
ficed a  good  deal  to  promote  it.  The  makers  of  the  Col- 
ony believed  in  it  and  fostered  it.  But  the  people  generally 
had  to  be  whipped  up  to  the  necessary  expenditure,  and 


rOO  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

the  schoolmaster  had  a  hard  time.  It  was  not  because 
there  was  a  popular  demand  for  the  school  that  the  school 
came ;  it  was  because  the  men  who  influenced  public  sen- 
timent—  the  best  men  in  the  Colony  —  led  the  people,  and 
w^ould  take  no  refusal,  that  at  last  the  public  feeling  rose 
to  the  task  of  supporting  the  school.  For  though  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  towns  was  democratic,  and  every  church 
member  had  his  vote,  the  best  men  nevertheless  took  the 
place  and  the  power  which  their  education  and  capacity 
gave  them,  and  dragged  the  lagging  sentiment  of  the  popu- 
lace up  to  the  demands  of  the  times.  There  is  a  valuable 
suggestion  in  the  history  of  the  early  days  of  these  New 
England  towns  for  the  exigencies  of  the  present  period. 

The  town  meantime  was  showing  signs  of  outward 
growth  and  thrift.  It  even  indulged  in  the  modern  luxury 
of  a  town  debt  for  a  short  time ;  but  did  not  like  it,  and  so, 
at  a  town  meeting  held  Feb.  27,  1727,  £14.  was  granted 
"  to  pay  the  town  Debt  and  to  buy  a  Burying  cloth." 
The  town  lines  were  being  carefully  surveyed  in  con- 
junction with  the  authorities  of  adjoining  towns.  In  1727 
the  line  between  Hopkinton  and  Westborough  was  "  per- 
ambulated;  "  in  1728  the  lines  between  the  town  and 
Framingham,  Marlborough,  Lancaster,  and  Shrewsbury 
were  adjusted.  It  is  not  quite  easy  to  understand  where 
Framingham  and  Westborough  could  by  any  possibility 
join.  Southborough  was  not  incorporated  until  the  July 
following,  and  Ashland  was  not  born;  but  Framingham 
joined  Marlborough,  not  Westborough,  whose  eastern  line 
has  always  been  the  same  as  to-day.  The  line  between 
Lancaster  and  Westborough  was  the  same  essentially  as 
the  present  line  between  Northborough  and  Berlin,  for 
Westborough  included  Northborough,  and  Lancaster 
included  Bolton,  Berlin,  Clinton,  and  Sterling. 


GROWTH   OF  THE  TOWN.  10 1 

During  the  same  year  nineteen  hundred  acres  were 
added  to  the  town  area  on  the  south,  from  Sutton,  on 
which  there  were  ten  famihes.  This  area  is  essentially 
the  angular  southern  projection  of  the  present  town;  the 
southern  line  originally  running  straight  from  the  angle 
on  the  road  between  B.  A.  Nourse's  and  Jasper  Fay's  to 
Cedar  Swamp,  and  intersecting  the  Upton  and  Hopkinton 
roads  a  little  below  their  junction.  The  incorporation  of 
Southborough  in  July  called  for  some  readjustment  of 
boundaries,  which  was  finally  made  in   1730. 

This  growth  and  accretion  seems  to  have  filled  the 
meeting-house  quite  to  its  present  capacity,  and  we  hear 
of  a  gallery  and  of  extra  pew-room  granted.  On  the  5th 
of  February,  1729,  the  town  gave  "  the  vacant  room  be- 
hind ye  front  Gallery  to  Beriah  Rice,  Noah  Rice,  Phineas 
Hardy,  Abner  Newton,  David  Maynard,  and  Aaron  Hardy, 
as  far  as  ye  south  window,  to  build  a  pew;  they  making  a 
good  seat  before  their  pew  for  ye  Boys,  and  mending  ye 
glass  and  barring  ye  casement  of  s"*  window."  In  May 
the  southwest  corner  of  the  gallery  was  granted  to  Thomas 
Bruce,  Jonathan  Fay,  and  Eliezer  Rice  for  a  similar  pur- 
pose. Two  other  town  institutions  besides  the  meeting- 
house required  attention  at  about  the  same  time.  The 
lease  of  the  land  granted  by  David  Maynard  in  1721  for 
ten  years  as  a  site  for  the  town  pound  having  nearly 
expired,  Ensign  Thomas  Newton  and  Daniel  Warren  were 
directed,  in  1730,  to  provide  "a  sufficient  Pound  and 
Stocks,"  according  to  law.  And  so  the  town  is  holding 
on  its  way,  with  provision  for  all  its  needs  and  with  a 
prospect  of  increasing  prosperity. 

There  was  one  disadvantage,  however,  which  by  this 
time  began  to  be  severely  felt,  — the  depreciation  of  the 
currency.      In    1729    the    Colony   issued    a   new  loan   of 


102  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

;^6o,000,  to  be  apportioned  to  the  different  towns  in  the 
Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  The  town  voted  to  bear 
its  proportion,  and  appointed  Daniel  Warren,  Joseph 
Wheeler,  and  Thomas  Forbush  trustees,  who  should  re- 
ceive the  paper  money  and  let  it  out  to  the  inhabitants  of 
the  town  in  sums  of  not  more  than  ten  nor  less  than  five 
pounds.  Joseph  Wheeler  went  to  Boston  for  the  money 
at  the  town's  expense.  But  this  paper  currency  was  full 
of  mischief.  The  interest  was  not  paid  regularly,  and  in 
June,  1730,  the  town  voted  "  to  call  all  the  trustees  to 
account  for  the  interest  money  of  both  banks,  and  to  look 
over  Capt.  Fay's  account."  The  other  "  bank "  or  loan 
was  that  which  the  town  had  assumed  its  share  of  in 
1 72 1,  and  of  which  Capt.  John  Fay,  David  Brigham,  and 
Thomas  Ward  were  the  trustees.  But  the  chief  trouble 
was  in  the  depreciation  of  this  inflated  currency.  The 
notes  of  the  former  loan,  now  called  "  old  tenor,"  were 
practically  worth  only  about  one  tenth  of  the  new  bills ; 
and  these  in  turn  depreciated  until,  in  1731,  it  took  ;^340 
in  currency  to  equal  ;^ioo  in  coin;  and  in  1738  the  ratio 
was  five  to  one.  The  way-marks  of  this  depression  are 
strikingly  seen  in  the  votes  regarding  Mr.  Parkman's 
salary.  This  was  fixed  in  the  beginning  at  ;^8o  a  year. 
In  1728  they  added  £10  to  it;  in  1729,  during  his  illness, 
the  same,  but  with  two  recorded  "  dissents;  "  in  1730  they 
added  .^30,  and  £6  more  for  firewood;  in  1733  they 
added  £60,  and  in  1737  ;^8o,  doubling  the  original 
salary:  but  as  it  was  payable  in  currency,  it  would  have 
been  necessary,  in  order  to  make  it  really  equal  to  the 
original  sum,  to  have  voted  ;^400.  And  yet  this  was 
only  the  beginning  of  sorrows  in  this  direction.  The 
war  of  the  Revolution,  with  its  financial  bankruptcy,  was 
to  come. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

1730-1744. 

THE  NEW  COUNTY.  —  BEGINNINGS   OF  DIVISION.  — 
CHURCH   MUSIC. 

FOR  the  first  twenty  years  of  its  existence  the  town 
had  little  to  do  except  to  attend  to  its  own  affairs, 
with  small  reference  to  the  larger  business  of  the  State. 
The  first  record  of  the  choice  of  a  representative  is  in 
the  year  1738,  when  a  town-meeting  was  called  on  the 
22d  of  May  "  to  choose  a  Debuty  to  sarve  for  and  repre- 
sent them  in  a  Great  and  General  Court  of  this  province, 
to  be  convened,  held  and  kept  for  His  Majesty's  Sarvice 
in  Boston,  for  the  year  ensuing,  and  Capt  James  Eager 
was  Elected  and  Deputed  for  the  Sarvice  above-men- 
tioned." "His  Majesty"  at  this  time  was  George  H., 
George  I.  having  died  the  previous  year;  and  Jonathan 
Belcher  was  governor  of  the  Colony. 

It  was  about  this  time  that  Worcester  County  was  organ- 
ized, and  courts  and  county  roads  became  matters  of  local 
interest.  The  incorporation  of  the  county  dates  from 
April  2,  1739.  It  included  eight  towns  of  Middlesex 
County,  —  Worcester,  Lancaster,  Westborough,  Shrews- 
bury, Southborough,  Leicester,  Rutland,  and  Lunenburg; 
five  in  Suffolk,  —  Mendon,  Woodstock,  Oxford,  Sutton 
(including  Hassanamisco),  and  Uxbridge,  with  the  land 
"  lately  granted  to  several  petitioners  of  Medfield  ; "  and 
Brookfield,  in  the  County  of  Hampshire.  Three  courts 
were  to  sit  in  Worcester,  as  the  county  town,  —  a  "  Court 


I04  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace ;  "  an  "  Inferior  Court 
of  Common  Pleas ;  "  and  a  "  Superior  Court  of  Judicature, 
Court  of  Assize,  and  General  Gaol  Delivery."  The  first  of 
these  courts  consisted  of  all  the  justices  in  the  county, 
and  was  presided  over  by  one  of  the  four  judges  of  the 
Inferior  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  Besides  attending  to 
minor  criminal  cases,  it  had  charge  of  the  county  affairs, 
such  as  laying  out  roads,  licensing  inns,  and  admitting 
freemen.  It  took  the  place  of  the  General  Court  of  the 
Province  in  enforcing  the  laws  requiring  towns  to  support 
a  competent  ministry  and  to  have  schools  and  pounds 
and  stocks  and  other  paraphernalia  of  law  and  order. 
The  Court  of  Common  Pleas  had  four  judges.  It  was  a 
court  of  appeals  from  the  lower  court,  and  had  civil 
jurisdiction  in  the  county.  The  Superior  Court  was  a 
provincial  body,  and  held  annual  sessions  in  each  county, 
having  charge  of  more  serious  civil  and  criminal  cases, 
and  hearing  appeals  from  the  lower  courts. 

Westborough  had  appointed  a  committee  in  November, 
1728,  to  act  with  other  committees  of  towns  in  relation 
to  the  formation  of  the  new  county.  The  committee 
consisted  of  Daniel  Warren,  Jacob  Amsden,  and  John 
Maynard.  In  1730  a  county  road  was  laid  out  through 
the  town,  —  corresponding  probably  for  the  greater  part 
with  the  "  Connecticut  way  "  of  fifty  years  earlier,  which 
ran  from  Marlborough  through  Northborough  and  Shrews- 
bury to  Worcester  and  Brookfield,  and  thence  to  Spring- 
field on  the  Connecticut.  The  same  year  we  hear  of 
constables,  for  whom  the  town  voted  "  black  staves,"  and 
whose  duties,  so  far  as  recorded,  seem  to  have  consisted 
principally  in  preventing  paupers  from  getting  a  settle- 
ment in  the  town.  In  February,  173 1,  Jonathan  Forbush 
was  granted  twelve  shillings  "  for  Entertaining  and  Trans- 


THE  NEW   COUNTY.  I05 

porting  an  Ainchant  woman  from  Westboro  to  Marlboro 
constable."  And  for  several  following  years  an  "  old  Mr. 
John  Green  "  was  a  sore  trial  to  the  thrifty  farmers  who 
had  to  "  entertain  "  him  by  turns,  and  who  appointed 
successive  committees  in  town  meeting  to  ascertain 
whether  he  belonged  of  right  in  town,  and  whether  he 
had  no  relatives  anywhere  who  could  support  or  relieve 
him.  This  is  a  significant  glimpse  into  the  question  of 
pauperism  at  that  time.  The  sturdy  yeomen,  who  had 
to  work  hard  for  their  maintenance,  had  small  sympathy 
for  the  helpless,  who  had  no  means  of  support.  They 
would  take  care  of  them  if  they  must,  but  had  no  fancy 
for  the  business,  and  made  no  adequate  provision  for  it. 
The  method  was  severely  tonic  in  its  effect.  Pauperism  as 
a  hereditary  disease  belongs  to  a  later  time ;  it  could  not 
develop  well  in  the  rigors  of  the  early  day.  New  Eng- 
land thrift  was  in  part  due  to  the  irrepressible  dread  of 
"  coming  on  the  town  "  in  old  age.  It  is  a  fair  question 
whether  the  sumptuous  almshouses  of  to-day,  to  say 
nothing  of  luxurious  jails  and  prisons,  are  not  indicative 
of  an  opposite  extreme,  the  effect  of  which  is  to  coax 
pauperism  and  shiftlessness  with  the  bait  of  a  fair  asylum 
when  helpless. 

In  the  parsonage  a  great  change  had  occurred  dur- 
ing these  years.  On  the  29th  of  January,  1736,  Mary, 
the  young  wife  who  had  come  with  the  minister  to  the 
wilderness  in  the  days  when  Indians  were  prowling  about, 
and  had  borne  him  five  children,  died,  in  her  thirty-seventh 
year.  The  only  record  of  her  death,  except  that  on  the 
tombstone  in  the  old  cemetery  opposite  the  town-hall,  is 
the  vote  of  the  town  in  the  following  May  to  grant  £'^0  to 
pay  the  expenses  attendant  on  her  sickness  and  death. 
The  Diary  of  Mr.  Parkman  from  1731  to  1743  is  not  avail- 


I06  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

able.  We  know  that  she  left  at  her  death  four  children : 
Mary,  the  eldest,  was  ten ;  Lucy,  the  youngest,  one  year 
and  four  months ;  Ebenezer  and  Thomas  were  eight  and 
six  respectively;   Lydia,  born  in  173 1,  had  died  in  1733. 

Two  years  later  Mr.  Parkman  brought  a  new  bride  to 
the  parsonage,  a  fresh  young  maiden  of  twenty-one,  — 
Hannah,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Breck,  the  minister 
of  Marlborough.  She  shared  with  him  the  rest  of  his  life, 
bore  him  eleven  children,  and  survived  him  nineteen  years, 
passing  away  in   i8or,  at  the  age  of  eighty-four. 

In  less  than  twenty  years  after  the  incorporation  of  the 
town  the  people  began  to  feel  crowded  again,  although 
the  farms  were  large  and  there  was  plenty  of  wild  land, 
which  harbored  some  good  game.  As  late  as  1742  the 
town  at  its  annual  meeting  appointed  two  "  deer  reeves ;  " 
and  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  not  yet  a  merely 
nominal  office.  There  were  scarcely  a  hundred  families  in 
the  whole  section,  including  Northborough ;  but  the  area 
of  the  town  was  long  from  north  to  south,  and  those  who 
lived  at  the  extremes,  especially  at  the  north  end,  found 
the  meeting-house,  which  was  also  town-house,  too  far 
away.  It  was  becoming  crowded  as  well ;  and  we  have 
already  seen  how,  in  1729,  a  gallery  was  built,  and  seats 
were  inserted  wherever  room  could  be  found.  There  was 
also  an  increasing  sensitiveness  in  regard  to  the  appoint- 
ment of  town  officers,  each  section  being  jealous  lest  the 
other  should  usurp  too  many  functions.  As  a  result  of 
this  it  happened  that  for  several  years  more  officers  were 
appointed  than  were  needed ;  five,  and  in  at  least  one 
instance  seven,  selectmen  being  chosen  at  the  annual 
meeting.  These  causes,  and  others  less  traceable,  were 
gradually  bringing  forward  the  question  of  the  division 
of  the  single  town  into  two. 


\1        \^.  %\ 


t/T?K    y^-i^r*^ 


cmy. 


BEGINNINGS   OF  DIVISION.  IO7 

One  of  the  earlier  signs  of  this  movement  which  ap- 
pears in  the  records  is  connected  with  a  town  meeting 
early  in  1736.  The  year  previous  seven  selectmen  had 
been  chosen,  in  order  to  satisfy  both  sections.  This  year 
James  Maynard  was  chosen  constable  for  the  whole  town, 
who  forthwith  "  Declared  his  Refusal  to  Sarve;  "  for  which 
refusal  he  paid,  in  accordance  with  the  law  of  the  Pro- 
vince, a  fine  of  ;^5.  Josiah  Rice  was  then  chosen  in  his 
place,  and  also  refused,  "  and  paid  ye  sum  of  five  pound 
in  money  to  ye  Town  for  his  non-Exceptance."  This 
fine  was  one  of  the  blessings  derived  from  the  Andros 
government.  Under  the  old  charter  government  it  was 
fixed  at  twenty  shillings;  but  Andros  raised  it  to  ^^"5,  In 
the  depreciated  state  of  the  currency  this  sum  amounted 
to  only  about  five  dollars;  but  two  thrifty  farmers  did 
not  pay  even  that  without  a  strong  pressure,  and  the 
explanation  is  in  the  determination  of  the  north  end  of 
the  town  to  have  a  constable  of  its  own,  as  the  first  move 
toward  division.  Yielding  to  the  force  of  circumstances, 
the  meeting  finally  appointed  two  constables,  —  one  for 
the  north,  and  one  for  the  south  part  of  the  town. 

Next,  the  meeting-house  became  entirely  inadequate, 
even  with  its  gallery,  Feb.  14,  1737,  the  town  voted  **  to 
enlarge  the  room  in  the  meeting-house  by  altering  the 
seats  in  the  body  of  the  house  below,  and  making  more  as 
they  shall  see  good,"  Two  weeks  later  it  was  determined 
"  to  build  one  seat  Round  in  y^  Gallery  before  y'  seats 
y*  are  Built  y'  already,"  and  "  to  build  a  convenient  seat 
for  ye  women  in  y*"  front  gallery  to  Raing  with  y^  young 
men's  pew  y'  is  built  there  already,"  This  sufficed  to 
quiet  discontent  for  a  time,  but  in  November  of  the  fol- 
lowing year  three  radical  propositions  came  up  in  town- 
meeting,  —  only  to  be  peremptorily  rejected,  it  is  true,  but 


I08  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

indicating  the  inevitable  issue  that  was  coming.  The  first 
was  to  enlarge  the  room  in  the  meeting-house.  This  was 
declined,  evidently  because  it  came  from  the  wrong  quar- 
ter. It  looks  a  little  as  though  the  party  of  separation  was 
specially  devoted  to  church  attendance  just  now,  in  order 
to  crowd  the  building  and  demonstrate  the  necessity  for 
a  division  of  the  town.  The  second  proposition  was  to 
build  a  new  meeting-house,  which  probably  no  one  ex- 
pected to  carry,  but  which  was  made  in  a  spirit  of  chal- 
lenge to  the  stronger  party.  The  third  proposal  was  a 
blunt  motion  "  to  set  off  part  of  this  town  to  be  a  town- 
ship by  themselves."  So  ended  the  meeting,  without  ac- 
complishing any  definite  result;  but  the  gage  of  battle  had 
been  thrown,  and  henceforth  the  matter  was  not  to  rest 
until  settled.  The  enlarging  of  the  meeting-house  was  an 
actual  necessity,  and  so  in  February,  1739,  it  was  voted  "  to 
shut  up  the  Ally  in  the  meeting  house  and  improve  it  for 
y"  men  to  set  in ;  "  and  five  weeks  later  the  additional  step 
was  taken  of  voting  "  to  build  three  seats  in  the  north- 
east corner  of  the  meeting  house,  if  the  room  will  allow 
of  it." 

The  following  year,  in  March  meeting,  the  constable 
comedy  was  re-enacted,  and  three  sturdy  men  in  suc- 
cession marched  up  and  paid  jCs  rather  than  serve.  So 
again,  a  month  later,  the  temper  of  the  majority  empha- 
sized itself  in  the  vote  "to  build  o^c  good  and  sufficient 
Pound  for  the  town's  use,  to  be  set  on  the  land  of  Mr. 
David  Maynard,  a  little  south  of  his  dwelling  house." 
This  was  probably  somewhat  farther  north  than  the  old 
meeting-house,  and  near  the  line  of  the  present  North- 
borough  road. 

This  was  1740,  and  the  town  now  had  more  than  one 
hundred   families,   as  appears  from  the  fact   that    it  was 


BEGINNINGS   OF   DIVISION.  lOp 

presented  at  Court  this  year  for  not  having  a  grammar- 
school  master ;  and  Edward  Baker  was  sent  to  Worcester 
to  appear  before  "  the  Hon.  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions  " 
to  answer  to  the  charge.  The  defence  was  probably- 
based  on  the  divided  state  of  feeling  and  the  probability 
of  actual  separation  at  an  early  day.  Two  years  later  the 
first  movement  toward  school-districts  was  made,  and  the 
bounds  of  three  were  indicated.  The  following  spring 
the  north  end  had  votes  enough  to  defeat  the  motion  to 
build  one  new  meeting-house  for  the  whole  town.  The 
motion  was  renewed  in  slightly  altered  form;  to  wit: 
"  Shall  the  place  where  the  meeting-house  now  stands 
be  the  place  for  one  new  meeting-house?  "  and  this  also 
passed  in  the  negative.  Then  once  more,  as  in  1738,  the 
motion  came  up  to  set  off  the  north  part  of  the  town 
with  one  half  the  area  of  the  whole,  and  was  again  de- 
feated. Thus  matters  stood  in  town-meetings  till  1744, 
with  the  single  gain  for  the  north-end  people  that  in  1742 
a  committee  was  appointed  "  to  run  a  centre  line  east  and 
west  through  the  town  as  will  best  accommodate  both 
parts  of  the  town."  This,  however,  accomplished  little, 
for  in  September,  1743,  the  town  peremptorily  refused  to 
run  a  centre  line  or  to  build  two  meeting-houses. 

But  meantime  more  effective  measures  were  being  set 
in  operation  in  another  direction.  About  1741  the  nor- 
therly residents  began  to  absent  themselves  from  public 
worship  in  the  town  meeting-house  and  to  hold  services 
by  themselves  in  the  house  of  Mr.  Nathaniel  Oake.  This 
was  a  sore  trial  to  Mr.  Parkman,  who  felt  that  he  had  been 
settled  as  the  minister  of  the  whole  town,  and  opposed 
the  division  tenaciously  from  first  to  last.  But  he  could 
not  stay  the  tide,  and  in  1743  the  question  of  sanctioning 
this  sectional  gathering  came  before  him  in  an  unexpected 


no  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

way.  He  was  asked  to  baptize  seven  persons  at  Mr, 
Oake's  house,  "  where  y"  Publick  Assembly  of  that  Corner 
of  y  Town  was  Commonly  held."  After  much  hesitation 
and  consultation  he  performed  the  service  on  the  3d 
of  April. 

"But  this  was  not  done,"  says  the  cautious  and  reluctant 
minister,  "  before  I  had  laid  it  before  y^  Chh.  and  Congreg"  of 
y"  Town,  and  obtained  their  Concurrence ;  nor  was  it  till  I  had 
stopi  y^  Chh.  members  of  y*"  North  side  of  y^  Town  to  make 
Enquiry  into  their  meeting  by  themselves  (that  I  might  be 
certify-  of  y*  true  Cause  and  y^  manner  thereof)  and  known 
of  them  that  the  Reasons  of  their  so  doing  were  not  from 
Negligence,  Disgust,  &c.,  but  because  of  y'  inconvenient  Dis- 
tance, and  Difficulty  of  their  and  their  Children's  Travelling  to 
y*"  Meeting  House  ;  nor  till  it  was  known  what  faithfulness  they 
had  used  in  Improving  y"  means  of  public  Instruction  among 
them,  &  Dispensation  of  y^  pure  and  holy  Gospel  of  Jesus 
Christ.  Yet  it  was  intimated  to  them  that  y^  chh.  ought  to 
have  expected  some  Word  Concerning  their  Absence,  and  that 
y"  Neglect  thereof  was  undoubtedly  a  breach  of  Church  order ; 
inasmuch  as  by  our  own  Chh.  Cov'-  we  are  expressly  bound  to 
Hold  Communion  in  the  word  and  Sacrament.  Unto  which 
y"  Brethren  manifested  their  concurrence,  as  well  as  that  they 
Desired  and  Purposed  to  approve  themselves  Covenant  people." 

This  stern  catechising  at  the  hands  of  their  spiritual 
head,  now  in  the  prime  of  manhood  and  wielding  his 
sceptre  with  the  strongest  convictions  of  his  divine  right 
and  of  the  necessity  of  maintaining  strict  order  and  disci- 
pline, was  a  sufBciently  trying  ordeal  for  the  north-side 
people ;  but  they,  as  well  as  he,  had  developed  no  little 
sturdy  independence,  and  had  no  intention  of  giving  up 
their  purpose  at  anybody's  dictation ;  and  so,  while  they 
yielded  so  far  as  to  take  their  lecture  patiently,  Mr. 
Parkman  saw  no  course  but  to  give  way  to  the  tendency 


BEGINNINGS   OF  DIVISION.  Ill 

of  events,  and  so  gave  their  assembly  the  sanction  of  his 
priestly  service  in  baptism.  After  that  there  was  no 
going  back. 

In  February,  1744,  Mr.  Parkman  recorded  in  his  Diary 
that  he  had  received  information  that  "  a  number  of  North 
side  people  met  those  of  y"  South  side  last  night  at  Capt 
Fay's,  to  gather  subscriptions  to  a  petition  to  y^  General 
Court  that  y"  Town  may  be  divided."  "  At  y^  same  meet- 
ing," he  adds,  with  characteristic  irrelevance,  "  Eliezer 
Rice  broke  his  legg  by  wrestling  with  Silas  Pratt."  Nine 
years  later  the  same  Eliezer  Rice  became  a  terror  to  all 
unruly  youths  by  assuming  the  black  staff  of  a  constable. 

But  this  little  act  in  the  drama  of  separation,  which 
ended  with  a  broken  leg,  was  succeeded  by  a  movement 
which  was  likely  to  break  the  heart  of  the  worthy  minister. 
At  the  March  meeting  following,  the  north-side  people 
refused  to  pay  their  rate  toward  the  good  man's  salary, 
not  from  any  dislike  to  him,  but  as  a  forcible  measure  to- 
ward separate  incorporation.  From  that  time  he  felt  as 
if  a  part  of  his  rightful  parish  had  rejected  him.  He  did 
not  appreciate  fully  the  necessities  of  the  case,  and  only 
yielded  to  the  inevitable  with  bitter  disappointment. 

But  now  that  matters  had  gone  so  far,  the  remaining 
steps  toward  a  practical  division  were  rapidly  taken. 
The  petition  prepared  at  the  house  of  Captain  Fay  was 
duly  presented  in  General  Court;  the  town  appointed, 
in  May,  a  committee  consisting  of  Capt.  David  Warren, 
Capt.  John  Maynard,  and  Mr,  Francis  Whipple,  to  make 
answer  thereto ;  and  the  result  was  that  while  no  new 
town  was  yet  created,  nor  was  to  be  for  more  than  twenty 
years  afterward,  the  north  side  was  made  a  separate  pre- 
cinct, with  power  to  elect  its  own  officers  and  transact  its 
local   business,  and  to  constitute  a  separate  parish,  while 


112  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

the  two  precincts  were  to  assemble  for  town  meetings, 
to  be  held  alternately  in  the  meeting-houses  of  each 
precinct.  This  result  was  consummated  on  the  20th  of 
October,  1744;  and  from  that  time  the  principal  in- 
terest of  our  chronicle  lies  in  the  southern  precinct,  whose 
boundaries  were  essentially  those  of  the  present  town  of 
Westborough, 

Another  episode,  so  characteristic  of  the  period  as  to 
claim  more  than  a  passing  notice,  occurred  six  years 
after  the  organization  of  the  Church.  It  is  a  curious 
but  well-attested  fact  that  the  bitterest  disputes  in  the 
ecclesiastical  organism  have  arisen  in  regard  to  the  least 
essential  matters.  The  general  tendency  received  a  spe- 
cial emphasis  in  the  history  of  psalmody  and  music  in 
the  New  England  churches.  The  struggle  between  pro- 
gress and  conservatism  was  long  and  bitter;  party  spirit 
ran  high.  On  no  subject  was  there  such  deep  feeling. 
Never  was  there  a  more  persistent  clinging  to  that  which 
was  essentially  bad  on  account  of  its  age  and  venerable 
aspect. 

The  Church  at  Westborough  came  into  being  at  a  time 
when  the  subject  of  singing  in  worship  was  undergoing 
a  slow  and  tortuous  but  inevitable  revolution.  The  Ply- 
mouth pilgrims  had  brought  with  them  from  England 
Ainsworth's  version  of  the  Psalms,  and  used  it  until  1640. 
It  had  its  imperfections  as  a  book  of  sacred  poetry,  as 
witness  the  following  rendering  of  the  first  verse  of  the 
first  Psalm :  — 

"  O  Blessed  man,  that  doth  not  in 
the  wickeds  counsell  walk, 
nor  stand  in  sinners  way,  nor  sit 
in  seat  of  scornful  yi?//^." 

Still  more  lame  is  the  effort  to  conform  to  the  exact 
words  of  Scripture  in  Psalm  cxxxvii., — 


CHURCH   MUSIC,  II3 

"  I.  By  Babel's  rivers  there  sate  wee, 

yea  wept :  when  wee  did  mind,  Sion. 

2.  The  willows  that  amidds  it  bee 
our  harps  we  hanged  them  upon. 

3.  For  songs  of  us  there  ask  did  they 
that  had  us  captive  led-along  ; 

and  mirth  they  that  us  heaps  did  lay: 
Sing  unto  us  some  Sion's  song." 

Not  less  amusing  to  the  cultured  ear  is  the  rendering 
of  Psalm  cxxxix.,  — 

"Jehovah,  thou  hast  searched  me  and  known  ; 
Thou  knowest  my  rising  and  my  sitting  down  ; 
Thou  dost  discreetly  understand  from  far 
My  c6g-i-ta-ti-6n  fa-mil-i-ar." 

A  verse  of  Psalm  Ixxiv.,  of  which  the  prose  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Why  drawest  thou  back  thy  hand,  even  thy  right 
hand  ?  Pluck  it  out  of  thy  bosom  and  consume  them," 
was  thus  rendered,  — 

"  Why  dost  withdraw  thy  hand  abacke, 
And  hide  it  in  thy  lappe  ? 
O,  plucke  it  out,  and  be  not  slacke. 
To  give  thy  foes  a  rappe." 

But  these  rude  lines,  to  which  long  use  made  the 
earliest  churches  accustomed,  became  so  sacred  in  their 
associations  that  when,  in  1640,  the  Bay  Psalm-Book 
was  compiled  by  an  association  of  New  England  min- 
isters, it  met  with  great  opposition.  Salem  would  not 
give  up  Ainsworth  until  1667,  nor  Plymouth  till  1692. 
The  questions  raised  in  this  discussion  are  curiosities  of 
religious  inquiry;  for  example,  —  whether  the  singing  of 
the  Psalms  of  David  in  a  lively  voice  was  proper  in 
these  New  Testament  days ;  whether  it  was  proper  for 
one  to  sing,  and  the  rest  to  join  only  in  spirit  and  in 
saying   amen,  or   for   the    whole   congregation   to    sing ; 

8 


114  EARLY   HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

whether  it  was  proper  for  women  as  well  as  men  to 
sing  ;  whether  "pagans"  —  /.  e.,  the  unconverted  —  should 
be  permitted  to  sing  with  the  rest.  But  in  due  time  the 
Bay  Psalm-Book  came  into  general  use  throughout  the 
Colony.  Whether  the  ideal  of  poetic  form  had  therein 
been  reached,  we  may  judge  by  the  following  rendering 
of  Psalm  cxxxiii.  in  the  Bay  Psalm-Book :  — 

"  How  good  and  sweet  to  see 
it 's  for  bretheren  to  dwell 
together  in  unitee : 
It 's  like  choice  oyle  that  fell 
the  head  upon 
that  down  did  flow 
the  beard  unto 
beard  of  Aron : 
The  skirts  of  his  garment 

that  unto  them  went  down : 
Like  Hermon's  dews  descent 
Sion's  mountains  upon : 
for  there  to  be 
the  Lord's  blessing 
life  aye  lasting 
commandeth  hee." 

Couple  with  this  style  of  rhythmic  flow  the  lack  of 
tunes  "  understanded  of  the  people,"  of  which  there  were, 
until  1690,  only  eight  or  ten,  —  and  these  sung  in  different 
churches  in  totally  different  ways,  —  and  one  may  gain 
some  conception  of  the  need  of  a  reform.  One  of  those 
who  was  most  vigorous  in  laboring  for  a  change  writes 
that  "  every  melody  was  tortured  and  twisted  as  every 
unskilful  throat  saw  fit  ;  ...  it  sounded  like  five  hundred 
different  tunes  roared  out  at  the  same  time."  And  the 
time  was  as  bad  as  the  tune.  "  I  myself,"  he  says,  "  have 
twice  in  one  note  paused  to  take  breath  "  ! 

About    1720   there   came    a   revolt   against    this   sheer 
wantonness  of  conservatism;   and  in  the  reform  the  pul- 


CHURCH  MUSIC.  II5 

pit  led  ofif,  assisting  those  who  tried  to  introduce  written 
music  and  better  performance.  Singing-schools  came 
into  existence;  musical  notation  was  introduced.  All 
this  was  done  in  the  midst  of  the  most  strenuous  oppo- 
sition from  the  deacons  and  the  people  who  stood  for 
the  good  old  way.  The  new  way,  they  said,  was  not  so 
melodious  as  the  old  !  There  were  so  many  tunes,  they 
never  could  learn  them;  it  would  lead  to  the  use  of 
instruments  yet ;  the  very  names  of  the  notes  were  blas- 
phemous. And  a  writer  in  the  "  New  England  Chron- 
icle "  said :  "  Truly,  I  have  a  great  jealousy  that  if  we 
once  begin  to  sing  by  rule,  the  next  thing  will  be  to  pray 
by  rule  and  preach  by  rule;  and  then  comes  Popery." 
In  1723  the  Rev.  Mr.  Niles,  of  Braintree,  suspended  seven 
or  eight  of  his  church  members  for  persistency  in  singing 
by  rule. 

But  the  matter  was  taken  up  vigorously  by  the  clergy, 
and  sermons  and  pamphlets  were  preached  and  published 
in  defence  of  the  new  way.  The  Rev.  Thomas  Symmes,  of 
Bradford,  was  prominent  in  the  contest,  and  the  puissant 
Cotton  Mather  came  to  the  front  with  a  bristling  array 
of  arguments.  Finally,  in  the  revivals  that  preceded  the 
"Great  Awakening  of  1740,"  the  superiority  of  the  new 
over  the  old  was  so  completely  demonstrated  that  the 
victory,  so  far  as  it  had  gone,  was  complete. 

In  VVestborough,  as  in  some  other  places,  it  was  the 
pastor  who  was  the  daring  innovator.  The  earliest  mur- 
murs of  the  strife  have  died  away  without  record,  but  on 
the  7th  of  September,  1730,  the  town  took  the  matter  up, 
as  indicated  in  the  following  unique  record :  — 

"  Pursuant  to  an  order  from  the  selectmen,  the  town  met. 
I  uote,  Jacob  Amsden  chose  moderator  for  this  meeting ;  James 
Ball  and  Jacob  Amsden  enter  their  Decants  against  the  suck- 


Il6  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

seading  uote.     2ly,  uote  to  see  whether  or  no  the  town  will  sing 
the  usual  way,  and  the  uote  passed  in  the  Affirmative." 

In  the  February  following,  a  church  meeting  was  held 
in  relation  to  the  matter,  which  had  grown  to  serious 
dimensions.  There  was  grave  talk  of  discipline,  if  it 
could  be  found  who  the  chief  offenders  were.  James 
Ball  and  Jacob  Amsden  must  have  been  a  little  uneasy 
in  their  minds  just  then.  The  pastor,  who  knows  well 
enough  that  he  is  regarded  as  the  most  blameworthy, 
writes  of  it  in  his  Journal  with  customary  solemnity,  but 
with  a  certain  vagueness,  as  though  there  might  be  more 
behind. 

"  Upon  Prospect  of  the  season  revolving,  and  therewith  Hope 
of  Opportunity  for  ye  Holy  Communion,  it  appeared  needful,  by 
Prayer  and  other  suitable  and  Prudent  endeavors,  to  prepare 
and  dress  our  souls  with  a  Wedding  Garment,  to  meet  our 
Glorious  Lord  thereat." 

The  meeting,  when  it  came,  hardly  fulfilled  this  spir- 
itual prospectus ;  and  there  is  a  much  more  earthly  ring, 
even  in  the  pastor's  voice,  when  the  battle  is  fairly  set. 
Opportunity  was  given  for  complaints,  whereupon  Thomas 
Forbush  intimated,  with  an  outspoken  boldness  that  shows 
how  heated  the  public  mind  had  become,  that  the  trouble 
was  occasioned  by  the  pastor's  not  falling  in  with  the  vote 
of  the  town.  This  was  speaking  out  in  meeting,  and 
brought  the  minister  to  his  feet  without  more  ado.  The 
town,  he  said,  had  not  proceeded  according  to  church  rule 
or  civil  law  or  his  own  counsel ;  nor  yet  had  he  opposed 
them,  nor  disturbed  them  in  their  singing,  but  had  only 
appointed  the  person  to  read  (/.  ^.,  "  line  out ")  the  psalm 
and  set  the  tune,  and  to  say  what  tune  should  be  sung. 
He  proceeded   to  charge  that   the   town  meeting  on  an 


CHURCH  MUSIC.  11/ 

article  of  divine  worship  was  irregular,  if  not  positively 
sinful,  and  any  church  members  who  had  a  hand  in  it 
were  then  and  there  rebuked. 

So  the  parson  stood  at  bay,  defying  the  whole  town. 
What  happened  thereupon?  Did  the  people  rise  in  their 
wrath  and  send  him  adrift,  as  they  might  in  these  degen- 
erate days?  The  minister  of  that  time  held  his  office 
by  no  such  flimsy  tenure.  He  simply  proceeded  to  ask 
them —  not  as  one  who  sought  their  suffrages,  but  rather 
as  though  they  might  be  thankful  that  they  got  no  more 
severe  handling  —  if  there  was  still  any  uneasiness;  and 
no  one  responding,  he  treated  them  to  a  brief  dissertation 
on  love  and  unity,  and  dropped  the  matter.  The  victory 
was  plainly  his,  by  virtue  of  the  divinity  that  did  hedge 
about  a  minister  in  those  days ;  and  there  is  no  farther 
disturbance  recorded  on  that  ground  for  forty  years  after- 
ward. It  was  the  minister  against  the  town,  and  the 
minister  won,  not  so  much  by  argument — though  the 
argument  was  on  his  side  —  as  by  authority.  That  was 
the  power  of  the  early  New  England  clergy;  and  it  was 
fortunate  for  the  people  when,  as  in  Mr.  Parkman's  case, 
the  minister  was  disposed  to  use  his  power  in  the  inter- 
est of  popular  progress.  Westborough  was  not  always 
so  fortunate,  as  we  shall  see. 


CHAPTER   IX. 

1730-1744. 

CHURCH   ORDER.  —  PHASES    OF    CHURCH    LIFE. — THE 
GREAT    AWAKENING. — AN    ANNIVERSARY    SERMON. 

IT  would  be  interesting,  if  it  were  possible,  to  restore  a 
glimpse  of  the  religious  life  of  that  period,  in  order 
to  the  better  understanding  of  the  events  which  revolu- 
tionized it.  The  early  part  of  the  century  was  for  several 
reasons  a  time  of  general  religious  decadence.  Here  in 
New  England,  as  we  have  seen,  the  settlers  were  too  much 
occupied  with  their  own  affairs  to  give  much  thought  to 
the  affairs  of  another  world.  Between  "  buying  a  piece  of 
land  "  or  "  five  yoke  of  oxen  "  or  "  marrying  a  wife,"  they 
were  ready  to  excuse  themselves  from  absorbing  interest 
in  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And  in  England  there  was  at 
the  same  period  a  time  of  general  looseness  and  corrup- 
tion. The  clergy  lost  their  spirituality,  the  higher  classes 
gave  themselves  up  to  frivolity,  and  the  lower  classes  be- 
came profligate  and  debauched.  It  was  the  reaction  from 
this  state  of  affairs  in  the  mother-country  that  produced 
the  great  Methodist  awakening,  which,  with  all  its  extrava- 
gances, was  a  real  forward  movement  in  the  kingdom  of 
God,  destined  powerfully  to  affect  two  continents. 

Here,  during  the  period  of  indifference,  measures  were 
adopted  by  the  ministry  and  the  more  earnest  leaders  of 
the  church  which  kept  the  truth  from  stagnation  and  pre- 
pared the  way  for  better  times.  We  cannot,  indeed,  restore 
what  is  of  most  value   in  the  church  life  of  that  day ;   it 


CHURCH    ORDER.  IIQ 

is  not  a  matter  of  records  and  documents.  The  throbbing 
heart  of  spiritual  life,  which  is  the  soul  of  all  history,  can- 
not live  again  in  printer's  ink.  But  there  are  one  or  two 
special  phases  of  that  life  which  demand  a  passing  notice. 

The  desire  for  religious  stimulus,  which  expresses  itself 
to-day  in  endless  meetings,  conventions,  associations,  and 
itinerant  evangelism,  was  then  forced,  through  lack  of  easy 
and  frequent  communication,  to  find  vent  in  occasional 
fasts,  to  which  the  neighboring  ministers  were  invited,  and 
which  consisted  of  awakening  discourses  and  prayers  by 
the  ministers,  with  no  lay  help.  Not  only  were  the  an- 
nual fast-days  sacredly  observed,  but  in  connection  with 
every  unusual  occurrence  in  Nature  (every  drought,  every 
season  of  epidemics,  and  notably  the  earthquakes  of  1727 
and  1755),  on  every  special  occasion  (the  founding  of 
the  church,  the  illness  of  the  minister,  the  separation  of 
the  north  part  of  the  town),  and  whenever  the  ministers 
felt  that  the  people  needed  rousing,  the  inevitable  means 
resorted  to  was  a  fast. 

It  is  an  illustration  of  this  that  the  Worcester  Associa- 
tion of  Ministers,  organized  in  1725,  of  which  Mr.  Park- 
man  was  the  youngest  member,  voted  in  1731  to  turn  the 
Association  meetings  into  fasts  "  for  the  reviving  of  re- 
ligion, and  imploring  the  Divine  blessing  upon  the  rising 
generation."  For  more  than  a  year  this  was  kept  up,  the 
ministers  preaching  in  rotation.  This  was  not,  indeed,  or- 
dinary ;  it  indicated  the  beginning  of  a  movement  which 
was  soon  to  spread  over  all  the  region :  but  it  marks  the 
habit  of  the  time.  One  of  these  meetings  was  held  at 
Westborough  Nov.  17,  1731,  and  Mr.  Parkman  adds  to  the 
record  of  the  meeting  in  his  Diary  this  characteristic  utter- 
ance :  "  O  that  it  may  be  a  fast  that  He  has  chosen !  O 
that  our  offerings  might  be  pleasant  to  the  Lord  our  God, 


I20  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

and  that  the  great  designs  of  the  fast  might  be  answered ; 
that  we  might  feel  and  see  a  happy  influence  thereof  upon 
ourselves  and  our  children  !  " 

Another  means  of  promoting  religious  life  and  nurture, 
which  was  not  occasional  but  regular  in  its  operation,  was 
the  catechising  of  the  children  and  young  people  by  the 
minister.  This  was  infrequent,  occurring  regularly  but  once 
a  year,  but  looked  forward  to  and  prepared  for,  and  dreaded 
too,  by  all  the  children,  from  Dan  to  Beersheba.  The  ex- 
ercise took  place  in  mid-winter  in  the  cold  meeting-house, 
the  boys  attending  in  the  morning,  and  the  girls  in  the 
afternoon.  It  was  discomfort  enough  to  sit  in  the  unheated 
meeting-house,  into  which  no  stove  was  introduced  for  a 
century  after  the  founding  of  this  church ;  but  the  children 
were  used  to  that,  for  they  had  to  attend  on  Sundays  as  well, 
and  though  the  warmth  disseminated  from  the  audience 
made  it  a  little  more  tolerable  then,  it  was  anything  but  com- 
fortable. On  a  cold  Sunday  in  January,  1686,  Judge  Sewall 
wrote  in  his  Diary:  "  So  cold  that  the  sacramental  bread  is 
frozen  pretty  hard,  and  rattles  sadly  into  the  plates ! " 

But  the  cold  was  a  small  trial  to  the  hardy  children  be- 
side the  dread  of  the  ordeal  of  catechising  and  the  awe  of 
the  benignant  and  dignified  man  in  gown  and  wig,  who 
was  to  them  the  embodiment  of  all  the  awful  sanctities  of 
religion.  The  man  who  could  carry  his  will  with  the  congre- 
gation, and  whom  no  man  dared  answer  except  under  the 
stress  of  excitement,  was  looked  upon  with  profound  rever- 
ence by  the  children.  Yet  this  catechising,  which  was  a 
bequest  from  the  old  English  custom,  was  not  without 
benefit  Setting  aside  the  dread  of  it,  and  the  more  seri- 
ous objection  that  the  children  were  taught  things  they 
could  in  no  wise  understand,  which  is  always  bad  instruc- 
tion, there  were  elements  in  the  custom  of  much  value.     It 


PHASES   OF   CHURCH    LIFE.  121 

connected  the  children  definitely  with  the  ordinances  of  the 
church;  it  taught  them  some  things,  in  the  way  of  Scrip- 
ture history,  which  it  was  good  for  them  to  know;  and  it 
created  a  sense  of  responsibility  in  them  that  helped  to 
make  them  sturdier  men  and  women  when  they  grew  up. 
But  one  of  the  best  outgrowths  of  the  custom  appeared 
here  in  the  coming  to  the  pastor  voluntarily,  in  1 741,  of 
ten  young  women  to  confer  respecting  a  further  catecheti- 
cal exercise  which  they  desired.  A  class  was  immediately 
formed,  and  the  first  lesson  given  out.  It  consisted  of 
"  three  answers  of  the  Westminster  Assembly's  Catechism, 
with  proofs;  and  to  wait  upon  an  exposition  "  of  the  same 
by  the  pastor.  The  next  week,  at  the  first  recitation,  four- 
teen more  young  women  came,  and  the  next  month  six 
more,  —  making  a  noble  class,  whose  frequent  gathering  was 
a  stimulus  to  the  pastor,  and  full  of  promise  for  the  future. 
A  third  aspect  of  church  life  peculiar  to  that  day  is 
indicated  by  the  emphasis  that  was  put  upon  church 
discipline.  This  was  faithfully  maintained,  and  with  a 
punctiliousness  which  indicates  how  important  it  was 
considered.  The  early  records  of  the  church  seem,  on 
a  hasty  reading,  to  be  made  up  almost  wholly  of  cases 
of  discipline.  Confessions  were  required  from  even  slight 
offenders  before  tliey  were  admitted  to  communion,  and 
in  cases  whose  triviality  occasions  a  smile.  The  authority 
of  the  church  was  most  strenuously  insisted  upon  and  ex- 
ercised, howbeit  with  an  evident  desire  to  use  all  charity 
and  tenderness.  Mr.  Parkman  seems  to  have  been  especi- 
ally courteous  and  kind  in  dealing  with  offenders,  yet  un- 
flinching in  doing  his  duty  as  the  executor  of  church  law. 
It  is  a  fact  which  looks  rather  startling  at  first,  that  within 
two  and  a  half  years  from  the  organization  of  the  church 
in  this  little  town  there  occurred  six  public  confessions 


122  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

of  some  form  of  violation  of  the  seventh  commandment. 
It  is  also  quite  unintelligible  to  modern  understanding 
that,  in  one  case,  a  man  was  kept  on  trial,  and  suspended 
from  the  church  some  twenty-two  years,  before  the  final 
issue  was  reached.  Yet  in  spite  of  exaggerations,  this 
carefulness  maintained,  amid  troublous  times  and  among 
an  independent  and  strong-willed  people,  a  condition  of 
comparative  health  and  purity  in  the  church,  and  gave  to 
the  world  the  conviction  that  the  church  believed  most 
heartily  in  virtue,  integrity,  and  order. 

These  were  the  customary  aspects  of  church  life  in  that 
day;  but  during  the  agitation  concerning  the  division  of  the 
town  there  swept  over  the  whole  country  a  great  wave  of 
religious  excitement,  unprecedented  in  all  its  history,  which 
constituted  an  era  in  the  life  of  the  church  here,  as  it  did 
everywhere.  The  year  1740  witnessed  the  beginning  of 
the  most  marked  demonstrations  of  what  was  known  as 
"The  Great  Awakening."  It  was  the  year  in  which  White- 
field  began  his  work  in  this  country.  Five  years  before, 
Jonathan  Edwards  had  shaken  Northampton  and  all  the 
Connecticut  valley  with  the  terror  of  his  delineations  of  the 
doom  inpending  over  all  his  unconverted  hearers.  In 
the  South,  Gilbert  Tennent  had  done  a  similar  work  in 
the  Presbyterian  churches.  And  now,  under  the  eloquence 
of  the  young  Whitefield,  twenty-six  years  of  age,  impas- 
sioned, zealous,  and  becoming,  under  the  influence  of  the 
success  and  flattery  which  followed  him,  intensely  fanat- 
ical, a  contagion  of  excitement  spread  all  over  the  land. 
Crowds  flocked  to  hear  him.  People  neither  ate  nor  slept. 
Strange  physical  phenomena  manifested  themselves  every- 
where. Edwards  had  the  sense  to  repudiate  these  mani- 
festations as  in  no  sense  a  part  of  the  real  work  of  grace ; 
but  not  so  Whitefield  and  his  followers.     Naturally  it  was 


THE   GREAT  AWAKENING.  1 23 

not  long  before  extremists  arose,  who  cared  only  for  these 
crazy  freaks.  That  was  the  signal  for  a  strong  reaction. 
By  1743  protests  against  the  extravagances  of  fanatics  be- 
gan to  come  in  from  the  leading  ministers  of  the  country 
and  from  the  educational  centres ;  and  when  VVhitefield  re- 
turned to  the  country,  after  an  absence,  in  1744,  he  found 
a  decided  change  in  the  atmosphere,  and  many  pulpits 
closed  to  him.     The  movement  had  spent  itself. 

It  had  done  good.  Violent  as  it  was,  it  had  cleared  the 
atmosphere  like  a  thunder-storm.  It  had  been  inevitable. 
It  was  the  crisis  of  the  conflict  which  had  been  going 
on  for  a  century  between  the  truth  taught  and  the  habits 
adopted.  The  failure  properly  to  sift  the  membership  of 
the  churches;  the  adoption  of  the  "half-way  covenant;  " 
and  the  belief  in  salvation  by  sacraments  which  followed 
naturally  upon  the  rest,  in  connection  with  the  study  of 
Scripture  and  the  Catechism,  —  had  been  preparing  ex- 
plosive material ;  and  this  was  the  result.  And  with  all 
the  incidental  evils  which  accompanied  and  followed  the 
movement,  there  was  this  clear  gain,  that  the  church  was 
thoroughly  cured  of  those  particular  weaknesses  which 
had  previously  threatened  its  integrity. 

During  this  time  of  universal  excitement  Westborough 
had  not  failed  to  be  deeply  stirred.  Whitefield  preached 
in  Marlborough  in  the  middle  of  October,  1740,  on  his 
way  to  meet  Edwards  at  Northampton.  In  1742  there 
were  great  manifestations  of  interest  at  Leicester  and 
Grafton  and  other  neighboring  towns ;  and  Westborough 
felt  the  movement  to  a  great  extent.  Jonathan  Edwards 
preached  here  the  2d  of  February  of  that  year,  and 
again  the  20th  of  October,  with  marked  effect.  There 
were  here  also,  as  elsewhere,  the  manifestations  of  over- 
wrought  sensibilities.     On  the  13th  of  January,  1743,  Mr. 


124  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Parkman  wrote  in  his  Diary :  "  A  number  of  children  were 
supposed  to  be  much  filled  with  the  Spirit,  and  carried  out 
in  spiritual  joy  last  night  at  Mr.  Fay's.  An  Indian  girl  in 
great  distress  for  her  brother,  and  Betty  Fay  in  terrors." 
One  Isaiah  Pratt  lay  insensible  for  a  long  time,  his  pulse 
exceedingly  slow ;  and  when  he  awoke,  said  he  "  had  seen 
hell,  and  had  also  seen  Christ,  who  told  him  that  his  name 
was  in  the  Book  of  Life."  Mr.  Parkman  counselled  him 
wisely,  gave  him  no  encouragement  to  rely  on  his  visions, 
and  referred  him  to  the  plain  word  of  God  for  direction. 
Amid  all  the  excitements  Mr.  Parkman  seems  to  have 
acted  the  part  of  a  calm,  wise  man,  rejoicing  with  joy 
unspeakable  in  all  signs  of  the  work  of  God,  but  pained 
and  perplexed  by  the  hysterical  accompaniments,  which 
nevertheless  never  carried  him  away  from  his  discretion. 
When,  in  1743,  a  protest  was  issued,  signed  by  a  large 
number  of  New  England  pastors,  against  the  extrava- 
gances of  the  more  fanatical  evangelists,  his  name  ap- 
peared among  the  rest.  This  was  a  second  protest  of 
the  ministers,  issued  because  it  was  felt  that  the  first  had 
been  too  radical  for  a  politic  paper.  It  was  a  wise,  clear- 
headed document,  whose  positions  time  has  but  empha- 
sized. These  ministers,  while  rejoicing  in  the  good  fruits 
of  the  great  revival,  protest  against  emphasizing  impulses, 
to  the  detriment  of  the  judgment  and  sense ;  against  en- 
couraging excesses  of  physical  demonstration ;  against  the 
invasion  of  the  ministerial  office  by  exhorters  and  irregular 
workers ;  against  the  tendency  to  run  away  from  the  regu- 
lar church  and  ministry  to  seek  excitements.  It  is  good 
cause  for  congratulation  to  find  the  first  minister  of  West- 
borough  thus  in  harmony  with  the  most  judicious  of  his 
brethren.  On  the  9th  of  January  of  the  same  year  he 
records  the  action  of  a  church  meeting;   at  which  "  the 


AN   ANNIVERSARY   SERMON.  12$ 

present  times,  which  are  full  of  Religious  commotions,  were 
considered,  and,  that  we  might  obtain  ye  blessing  &  avoid 
the  snares,  the  church  were  very  ready  to  vote,  and  did 
so,  that  we  observe  a  Day  of  Solemn  Fasting  and  Prayer, 
and  that  it  be,  God  willing,  this  day  sennight." 

This  calm  and  steady  endeavor  to  maintain  caution  and 
rationality  in  a  time  of  great  and  general  excitement  was 
approved  by  the  sequel.  It  was  not  long  before  the  heated 
emotion  died  out ;  and  then  from  every  place  where  there 
had  been  zeal  without  discretion  there  came  reports  of 
dissensions  and  divisions.  Councils  were  constantly  being 
called.  Ordinarily  the  separatists,  or  "  New  Lights,"  were 
repudiated  by  the  churches,  and  churches  that  had  been 
harmonious  were  divided.  Grafton  was  rent  in  pieces; 
Sudbury  and  Ipswich  suffered  severely;  from  Holliston, 
Rutland,  and  other  towns  came  calls  to  Westborough  to 
join  in  councils  to  settle  difficulties ;  and  the  peace  and 
comparative  quietness  which  prevailed  in  this  church  was 
exceptional.  Not  that  there  had  not  been  a  deep  and 
intense  feeling  here ;  not  that  there  had  not  been  dross 
mingled  with  the  gold :  but  no  one  had  been  encouraged 
to  mistake  the  dross  for  gold,  and  the  truths  of  Scripture 
and  reason  had  ever  been  held  up  as  the  guide,  rather 
than  the  impulses  of  feeling.  The  results  of  the  patient 
instruction  of  the  twenty  years  of  Mr.  Parkman's  ministry 
now  appeared  in  full  power. 

On  the  28th  of  October,  1744,  Mr.  Parkman  preached 
a  sermon  appropriate  to  the  twentieth  anniversary  of  his 
settlement  and  of  the  organization  of  the  church.  The 
identical  manuscript  from  which  he  preached  it  lies  be- 
fore me.  It  was  not  written  out  in  full,  and  the  notes  of 
the  last  half  are  only  headings.  Like  all  his  sermons 
and  his  Diary,  it  is  written  on  small  sheets  of  paper,  now 


126  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

yellow  with  time,  measuring  about  six  inches  by  four.  The 
writing  is  not  merely  small,  but  minute ;  and  a  margin  of 
nearly  an  inch  is  left  for  the  insertion  of  notes,  the  number- 
ing of  heads,  etc.  It  is  not  easy  reading  ;  how  he  ever  read 
it  in  the  pulpit  is  a  puzzle.  He  used,  as  was  the  custom 
then,  a  great  many  abbreviations ;  and  as  the  lines  are  not 
more  than  an  eighth  of  an  inch  apart,  he  succeeded  in  crowd- 
ing almost  as  much  into  a  page  as  might  have  been  printed 
in  the  same  space.  This  sermon  is  numbered  CCLXViii. ;  and 
the  notes  of  it  are  contained  in  seven  of  the  small  pages. 

He  took  his  text  from  Genesis  xxxi.  38 :  "  This  twenty 
years  have  I  been  with  thee."  The  first  two  of  the  seven 
pages  are  occupied  with  introductory  matter  illustrating 
the  "  custom  of  the  servants  of  God  to  take  special  notice 
of  the  remarkable  periods  of  their  lives  "  by  the  example 
of  Jacob  in  the  text,  of  Samuel,  of  Moses,  of  Joshua, 
and  of  "  the  holy  apostle  St.  Paul."  He  then  comes  to 
the  matter  in  hand,  and  divides  the  body  of  the  discourse 
into  two  main  heads :  "  What  God  has  done  for  tis, "  and 
"  What  we  have  been,  and  done,  in  return."  The  first 
head  is  written  quite  fully  ;  the  second,  which  is  subdivided 
into  five  sections,  mainly  of  a  hortatory  character,  is  only 
indicated  by  a  few  phrases.  As  the  memorial  portion  con- 
tains some  few  points  not  found  elsewhere,  and  also  fur- 
nishes a  good  example  of  Father  Parkman's  style,  it  seems 
worth  while  to  give  it  entire,  as  follows :  — 

"  We  are  again  brought,  my  dear  brethren,  to  the  28th  of 
October,  —  a  day,  as  you  may  have  remarked,  I  have  been  wont 
to  take  some  singular  notice  of,  being  the  day  of  our  founding 
and  ordination.  But  now,  through  the  abundant  mercy  of  God, 
we  have  arrived  unto  the  twentieth  year  since  ;  and  it  is  now 
our  incumbent  duty  to  consider  seriously  what  God  has  done  for 
us,  and  what  we  have  been,  and  done,  in  return. 

"  I.    As  to  what  the  Lord  has  on  his  part  graciously  done  for 


AN   ANNIVERSARY   SERMON.  12/ 

us  (for  indeed  all  that  he  has  done  for  us  has  been  very  graci- 
ously and  mercifully).  Not  only  may  we  celebrate  his  wondrous 
love  and  pity  to  mankind  in  sending  his  dear  and  only  begotten 
Son  for  the  redemption  thereof;  not  only  his  inspiring  the  holy 
writers  of  the  Old  and  New  Testaments ;  setting  up  the  church 
in  the  world ;  instituting  his  ordinances ;  sending  the  gospel 
into  Britain ;  raising  up  his  cause  out  of  the  darkness  and  super- 
stitions of  popery  (for  the  Reformation  was  like  a  resurrection). 
Not  only  the  bringing  the  first  fathers  of  this  country,  and  plant- 
ing evangelical  churches  in  this  then  howling  wilderness ;  but 
the  Lord's  great  goodness  and  compassion  towards  the  first  set- 
tlers of  this  town,  in  supporting  them  under  their  great  difficul- 
ties and  hardships  in  their  beginning  this  place,  when  they  first 
came  out  of  Marlborough  to  inhabit  these  woods ;  and  protect- 
ing them  in  times  of  great  danger  and  troubles  by  the  Indian 
wars,  when  some  of  their  children  were  made  a  prey,  and  the 
rest  of  their  lives  were  daily  jeopardized,  their  toil  and  fatigue 
unspeakably  sore,  and  their  distresses  many.  Our  ears  have 
heard,  and  our  fathers  among  us  have  told  us,  what  great  things 
the  Lord  has  done  in  guarding  and  delivering  them  when  but  few 
in  number,  weak,  and  much  exposed  ;  and  as  the  most  of  them 
are  (through  the  favor  of  God)  yet  alive,  though  some  are  fallen 
asleep,  they  can  and  ought  to  recollect  and  bear  in  mind,  with 
highest  gratitude,  what  a  merciful  and  all-sufficient  God  did  for 
you  in  those  early  days  of  this  place,  —  succeeding  and  increasing 
you  and  yours  from  year  to  year. 

"  But  then  again,  it  is  not  to  be  forgotten  how  the  Lord  was 
pleased  to  appear  for  the  people,  and  extricated  you  out  of  great 
perplexity  and  temptation  when  you  had  fallen  into  hot  strife 
and  contention,  and  your  attempts  to  settle  the  ordinances  of 
Christ  among  you  were  rendered  abortive.^  And  doubtless  it 
becomes  us  all  to  take  a  suitable,  and  that  a  very  grateful,  notice 
of  the  hand  of  God  in  erecting  a  church  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  —  one  of  his  golden  candlesticks,  —  and  setting  up  his 
ordinances  here  in  this  place,  though  it  were  after  some  time  ; 
and  that  these  things  were  done  with  so  observable  an  unanimity 
and  agreement  on  the  part  of  the  inhabitants.  Nor  would  I  fail 
1  Referring  to  the  trouble  with  Daniel  Elmer. 


128  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

to  add,  as  St.  Paul  in  I.  Tim.  i.  12,  —  a  little  varied,  —  that  I 
thank  Christ  Jesus  our  Lord,  who  hath  enabled  me,  the  most 
unworthy,  for  that  through  his  grace  he  counted  me  faithful, 
putting  me  into  the  ministry.  Nay,  it  would  be  injustice  if  I 
should  not  mention  also,  to  the  glory  of  God,  the  kind  reception, 
the  affectionate  esteem,  which  was  generally  manifested  when  I 
came  to  you,  as  well  as  the  tolerable  peace  and  harmony  which 
was  then  visible  amongst  yourselves.^ 

"  As  to  what  has  been  chiefly  remarkable,  —  since  we  cannot 
but  observe  the  sparing  mercy  and  goodness  of  God  to  us  from 
one  year  to  another,  and  at  some  particular  periods  very  memor- 
ably;  but  especially,  we  ought  never  to  forget  the  year  1727. 
For  then,  we  having  stood  three  years,  through  the  Divine  indul- 
gence and  patience,  I  conceived  the  Divine  mind  concerning  us 
was  to  be  gathered  out  of  that  passage  in  Luke  xiii.  7.^  But 
then  that  very  night,  after  those  solemn  warnings  of  God's 
word,  came  the  Great  Earthquake.  But  then  on  the  next 
Lord's  day  (I  think)  I  preached  upon  the  words  next  follow- 
ing :  '  Lord,  let  it  alone  this  year  also '  (as,  when  the  year 
came  about,  I  did  on  those  words,  *  If  not,  then  after  that 
thou  shalt,'  etc.) ;  and  how  wondrously  God  has  accordingly 
borne  with  us  !  And  what  an  assurance  of  God's  goodness  was 
the  sparing  my  life,*  and  recovering  me  to  my  work  when  I  was 
visited  once  and  again  with  both  fever  and  rheumatism !  Let 
me  never  forget  those  benefits  towards  me  ! 

"  We  must  acknowledge  with  great  thankfulness  that  we  have 
had  sundry  very  valuable  outward  mercies,  which  we  ought  not 
to  overlook.  In  special,  we  have  not  only  enjoyed  much  health 
all  along,  in  this  place,  compared  with  some  other  towns,  but  we 
have  also  had,  as  far  as  has  come  to  my  knowledge  for  most  of 
the  years  past,  the  favor  of  considerable  peace ;  and  God  has 
blessed  you  with  no  contemptible  temporal  enlargements  and 
substance. 

^  The  word  "  then  "  is  inserted  as  an  after-thought  in  the  margin,  as 
though  the  present  trouble,  resulting  in  the  division  of  the  town,  were  on 
his  mind. 

2  "  Behold,  these  three  years  I  come  seeking  fruit  on  this  fig  tree,  and 
find  none :  cut  it  down,"  etc. 

8  In  1729. 


AN  ANNIVERSARY  SERMON.  1 29 

"  And  as  to  what  is  much  the  most  worthy  of  our  notice  and 
observance,  the  internal  influences  of  the  Divine  Spirit  and 
grace,  we  have  not,  as  I  humbly  judge,  been  altogether  without 
some  good  tokens  hereof  (though  it  is  matter  of  great  grief  and 
mourning,  as  we  shall  hereafter  more  positively  say,  that  there 
have  been  no  more  signs  of  grace  and  conversion  among  us). 
As  we  have  been  favored  with  the  external  means  of  grace, 
though  most  undeserving,  so  there  have  been,  at  several  times, 
some  movings  of  the  Spirit  of  God  among  us.  But  as  to  the 
outward  tokens  thereof,  by  persons  joining  to  the  church,  I  have 
not  been  very  fond  of  promoting  and  countenancing  great  mul- 
titudes of  these,  when  it  has  been  plain  to  me  either  that  it  has 
been  very  much  out  of  form,  or  when  they  have  been  too  raw 
and  unqualified,  as  being  too  unexperienced  in  the  practical  and 
spiritual  part  of  religion,  or  not  been  so  much  as  indoctrinated 
and  instructed  in  the  necessary  principles  of  Christianity ;  but 
yet,  sometimes  we  have  had  five  or  six  together.  ...  At  or 
about  two  of  those  seasons  in  which  we  principally  had  awaken- 
ings among  us,  we  had  religious  societies  set  up  among  us. 
Presently  after  the  earthquake  (besides  the  young  men's  society) 
the  Family  meeting  was  constituted ;  and  in  the  year  '41  there 
were  (I  suppose)  no  less  than  seven  different  societies  in  town, 
of  old  and  young,  of  one  sex  and  the  other,  who  from  time  to 
time  used  to  meet  for  religious  worship.  But  in  very  truth,  the 
external  form  and  bodily  exercise  profiteth  little  j  it  is  the  Spirit 
that  giveth  life.  This  is  what  God  would  freely  give,  did  we  but 
duly  ask.  .  .  ." 

It  would  have  been  gratifying  if  this  discourse  had 
dealt  more  largely  in  the  facts  of  the  history  of  the 
twenty  years;  but  that  would  not  have  been  in  accord 
with  the  prevailing  ideas  of  the  demands  of  sermons  and 
of  the  house  of  God.  It  seems  to  us  most  singular  of 
all  that,  inasmuch  as  it  was  written  only  a  week  after  the 
division  of  the  town  into  north  and  south  precincts,  it 
should  make  no  definite  allusion  to  that  event.  The 
explanation   doubtless  is  that  the  subject  was  too  deli- 

9 


I30  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

cate,  and  the  feeling  too  sore  to  allow  safe  allusions. 
But  however  meagre  in  historical  data,  the  sermon  is  of 
no  slight  value  as  furnishing  a  glimpse  into  the  life  and 
thought  of  the  time,  and  the  considerations  which  took 
strongest  hold  of  men's  feeling.  There  has  been  much 
change  since  then,  —  knowledge  has  vastly  increased ; 
but  the  fidelity  and  reverence  of  those  days  was  the 
good  soil  out  of  which  our  best  fruit  has  grown. 


CHAPTER  X. 

1744-1766. 

THE   FIRST   PRECINCT. 

WE  have  seen  that  from  the  20th  of  October,  1744, 
the  town  was  divided  into  two  precincts,  of  which 
the  first  and  southernmost  corresponded  essentially  to  the 
present  town  of  Westborough.  Each  precinct  managed 
its  own  affairs  and  constituted  a  parish  by  itself;  but  both 
assembled  for  town-meetings  alternately  in  the  meeting- 
houses of  the  two  sections.  The  whole  town,  at  the  time 
of  the  division,  contained  one  hundred  and  twenty-five 
families,  of  whom  only  thirty-eight  were  set  off  in  the 
second  precinct,  leaving  eighty-seven   in  the  first. 

The  first  precinct  held  its  first  meeting  Jan.  3,  1745,  to 
appoint  precinct  officers  and  to  take  measures  to  retain 
Mr.  Parkman  as  minister,  —  that  is,  as  the  minister  of  the 
first  precinct,  and  no  longer  of  the  town.  He  at  first 
would  hear  nothing  of  it,  charging  that  his  contract, 
which  was  made  with  the  whole  town,  was  "  shocked  and 
violated "  by  the  doings  of  the  precinct  meeting.  He 
had  come,  in  the  first  year  of  his  manhood,  to  be  the 
minister  of  Westborough ;  he  had  lived  with  them  all,  and 
shared  their  prosperity  and  adversity,  until  he  was  now  in 
the  prime  of  life  and  the  full  activity  of  his  powers ;  and 
the  thought  of  losing  an  important  part  of  his  parish,  and 
becoming  the  minister  of  a  mere  section,  was  intolerable. 
But  when  at  a  second  meeting,  held  the  22d  of  January, 
the  people  of  the  first  precinct  unanimously  requested  him 


132  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

to  remain  their  pastor,  voted  to  pay  his  salary  from  Oct. 
20,  1744,  —  the  date  of  the  division  of  the  town,  —  and  sent 
a  committee  to  consult  him  as  to  the  amount  they  should 
allow  him  for  damages  in  case  the  meeting-house  should 
be  removed,  he  was  greatly  mollified.  On  February  8th 
they  voted  to  give  him  ;^500,  "  old  tenor,"  if  the  meeting- 
house should  be  removed  more  than  three  quarters  of 
a  mile  from  his  house,  so  that  he  should  be  obliged  to 
move,  and  to  pay  him  £^s  ^^  bills  "of  the  new  tenor,  not 
soldier  money,"  as  stated  salary.  To  this  he  subsequently 
agreed,  and  so  the  compact  was  renewed,  which  was  to 
last  for  thirty-seven  years  longer. 

In  May,  1746,  the  process  of  division  was  farther  carried 
forward  by  an  ecclesiastical  separation.  Capt.  James  Eager 
had  given  a  lot  of  land  for  a  meeting-house  in  the  north 
parish,  situated  a  little  westward  of  the  site  of  the  pres- 
ent old  meeting-house  in  Northborough,  Thereupon 
five  brethren  asked  to  be  dismissed  from  the  church, 
and  five  others  from  the  same  section,  in  conjunction 
with  the  deacons,  called  for  a  church  meeting,  in  view 
of  the  serious  matters  pressing  upon  them,  which  was 
solemnly  held  on  the  7th  of  May,  "to  consider  God's 
great  mercy  to  us  in  bringing  us  into  a  church  state, 
and  his  glorious  patience  and  goodness  in  continuing  us 
to  this  day;"  and  "to  bewail  our  unfaithfulness  to  God 
and  to  each  other  under  our  high  and  holy  character, 
and  under  our  sacred  obligations,  —  manifest  in  our 
unfruitfulness,  deadness,  carnality,  and  worldly-minded- 
ness ;  "  and  more  to  the  same  effect. 

And  now,  as  in  the  first  organization  of  a  church,  the 
brethren  go  alone  into  the  new  body;  not  until  August 
are  any  of  the  women  dismissed,  and  then  with  a  rather 
ungallant   proviso  "  that   something  be  inserted   in  their 


THE   FIRST   PRECINCT.  133 

dismission  touching  their  delinquency,  which  we  have 
observed  of  late,  with  an  Exhibition  and  Caution  to  them 
respecting  ye  time  to  come." 

Those  who  remained  in  the  old  church  had  now  to  con- 
sider the  question  of  adapting  themselves  to  the  new  state 
of  affairs.  The  meeting-house  was  in  the  extreme  north 
of  their  area,  and  inconvenient  for  many  of  them.  Yet 
the  attachment  to  old  landmarks,  and  the  private  rights 
of  ownership  in  the  building,  served  to  avert  any  change 
for  a  year  or  two  longer.  The  precinct  had  definitely  re- 
fused, in  May,  1745,  to  find  its  geographical  centre  or  to 
build  a  new  meeting-house.  Thus  matters  remained  until 
the  beginning  of  1748,  when  there  was  a  proposal  made 
to  build  a  new  meeting-house  "  on  the  Great  Road  within 
30  rods  of  the  Burying  Place,  easterly  of  said  Burying 
Place."  This  was  temporarily  refused  ;  but  measures  were 
taken  to  find  the  centre  of  the  precinct,  and  in  April  it 
was  voted  to  build  "on  the  north  side  of  the  Cuntry  road 
where  there  is  now  a  Pine  Bush  grows,  about  twenty-five 
or  thirty  rods  easterly  from  the  Burying  Place  in  said 
Precinct."  This  burying-place  was  the  old  cemetery, 
opposite  the  present  town-hall;  and  the  meeting-house 
still  stands  near  its  original  site,  and  is  familiarly  known 
as  "  The  Old  Arcade."  Edward  Baker,  Thomas  Forbush, 
Dea.  Josiah  Newton,  Francis  Whipple,  and  Abner  New- 
ton constituted  the  building  committee.  In  December, 
;^6oo,  old  tenor,  was  appropriated  toward  the  building. 
A  piece  of  land  five  rods  long  and  eight  wide  was  pur- 
chased in  January,  1749,  of  Nathan  Brigham,  of  South- 
borough.  The  house  was  to  be  fift>^  feet  long  by  forty 
wide,  with  po'sts  twenty-three  feet  high.  In  April  it  was 
ready  for  the  raising;  and  accordingly  the  precinct  voted, 
on  the  17th,  "to  provide  Half  a  barrel  of  Roum,  by  the 


134  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

cost  and  charge  of  the  precinct,  for  the  Raising  the 
frame  of  the  meeting-house  which  the  precinct  voted  to 
build.  .  .  .  Voted,  Capt.  John  Maynard,  Lieut.  Simeon 
Taintor,  Lieut.  Abijah  Bruce  to  be  a  committee  to  take 
care  to  provide  the  Roum  for  raising  the  frame  of  the 
meeting-house.  .  .  .  Voted,  to  underpin  the  sils  of  the 
meeting-house."  They  also  refused  to  take  down  the  old 
house  and  use  the  material  in  the  new  one. 

Four  months  later  the  opposition  to  taking  down  the  ' 
old  house  was  so  far  overcome  that  a  vote  was  passed, 
August  10,  with  four  "  decents,"  to  take  it  down,  "and  use 
and  improve  so  much  of  the  boards,  nails,  glass,  and  tim- 
ber of  the  s"^  old  meeting-house  in  closing  and  finishing 
the  s''  new  meeting-house  as  will  be  profitable  to  s'^  pre- 
cinct; the  interest  and  property  of  particular  men  in 
their  several  and  respective  pews  in  s'*  old  meeting-house 
excepted.  Voted  to  take  the  pulpit  and  ministerial  pew, 
and  set  them  up  in  the  new  house.  Voted  to  take  the  old 
meeting-house  down  at  or  before  the  second  Monday  of 
Sept.  next  ensuing." 

The  first  meeting  was  held  in  the  new  house  the  3d  of 
September,  according  to  Mr.  Parkman's  Diary,  —  a  sheer 
necessity,  probably,  from  the  demolition  of  the  old  one, 
for  it  could  not  have  been  more  than  barely  covered  in. 
On  the  15th  it  was  voted  to  sell  the  glass  of  the  old  house 
and  so  much  of  the  timber  as  was  not  used. 

Mr.  Parkman  still  lived  in  the  parsonage  beside  the  site 
of  the  old  meeting-house,  a  little  more  than  a  mile  away 
from  the  new  one.  On  Sundays  he  had  not  time  to  go 
home  for  his  lunch  between  services,  —  which  was  a  great 
inconvenience ;  and  as  it  was  hardly  consistent  with  the 
dignity  that  pertained  to  the  office  to  carry  it  with  him 
and  eat  it  in  the  meeting-house,  and  as  no  one  offered  to 


THE  FIRST  PRECINCT.  I35 

invite  him  in,  he  was  obliged,  evidently,  to  pay  for  his 
meal,  for  he  petitioned  the  precinct  to  assume  the  expense, 
and  at  a  meeting  on  the  28th  of  November  it  refused  the 
request.  He  next  requested,  very  properly,  that  the  pre- 
cinct would  carry  into  effect  its  vote  of  Feb.  8,  1745,  prom- 
ising him,  in  case  the  meeting-house  were  removed  more 
than  three  quarters  of  a  mile  from  his  house,  the  sum  of 
;^500,  old  tenor,  to  enable  him  to  move.  But,  as  usual, 
the  event  showed  that  it  was  much  easier  to  vote  a  sum  of 
money  long  in  advance,  when  they  were  anxious  to  induce 
the  minister  to  stay,  than  to  pay  it  when  called  for;  for  at 
a  meeting  held  Jan.  15,  1750,  the  precinct  curtly  refused 
to  "  put  the  ;^500  into  a  rate  to  enable  him  to  move  his 
habitation  to  the  new  house,  or  to  make  provision  for  his 
moving  in  any  other  way."  But  he  insisted  that  the  pre- 
vious vote  was  binding,  and  a  meeting  was  called  a  fort- 
night later,  which,  with  the  exasperating  slowness  of  the 
time,  adjourned  another  fortnight,  and  then,  with  a  bad 
grace,  faced  the  necessity  and  put  the  money  into  a  rate. 
Meantime,  in  January,  the  neighbors  had  met  to  break 
ground  for  his  new  house  "  on  the  south  road,"  near  the 
new  meeting-house,  —  the  spot  now  occupied  by  the  resi- 
dence of  the  late  Dr.  William  Curtis,  The  frame  was  not 
raised,  however,  till  the  7th  of  September  following,  and  the 
building  progressed  very  slowly.  But  the  work  was  done 
thoroughly,  if  not  rapidly ;  for  the  house,  afterward  owned 
and  occupied  by  Judge  Brigham,  is  still  standing,  just 
beyond  the  High  Street  school-house.  It  was  evidently 
considered  a  fine  house,  even  somewhat  extravagant,  at 
the  time,  and  there  were  not  wanting  those  who  found 
fault  with  the  parson  for  his  ambition  to  have  as  good  a 
house  as  anybody.  One  day  in  June,  175 1,  as  he  rode 
down  to  inspect  the  windows  and  doors,  which  had  just 


136  EARLY  HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

arrived,  he  was  sharply  rallied  by  Lieutenant  Taintor  about 
the  pride  of  ministers,  because  his  window-frames  were  so 
large.  "And  although  I  rebuked  him,"  says  the  worthy 
divine  naively,  "for  thus  speaking,  especially  as  there 
were  many  persons  present,  yet  I  was  disturbed  thereat; 
and  the  frames  were  larger  than  I  had  intended,  and  I 
would  rather  they  had  been  smaller," 

In  the  following  August  he  remarks  in  his  Diary  that  he 
is  obliged  to  move  at  once,  although  the  house  is  unfit  to 
be  occupied,  —  the  hearth  is  unlaid,  the  banks  of  gravel  on 
each  side  of  the  door  are  unlevelled,  and  moreover  there 
is  no  pasture  for  a  cow,  and  no  grass  or  hay  for  the  horse. 
But  move  he  must;  and  the  register,  less  reticent  than  he, 
tells  us  why.  We  find  that  he  moved  in  on  the  20th,  and 
that  on  the  22d  a  child  Samuel  appeared  upon  the  scene, 
keeping  up  the  regular  succession,  which  for  more  than 
twenty  years  hardly  failed  to  bring  a  new  life  into  the  par- 
sonage once  in  two  years.  The  family  was  becoming  nu- 
merous by  this  time,  —  Samuel  was  the  twelfth  child;  ^  and 
though  two  or  three  had  died,  there  was  need  of  consider- 
able house-room.  Eben,  as  his  father  called  him,  was  now 
a  young  man  of  twenty-four,  and,  to  the  regret  of  his  par- 
ents, did  not  take  kindly  to  a  life  of  study,  but  obtained 
their  reluctant  consent  to  become  a  farmer.  There  is 
little  or  no  light  on  the  family  life  during  all  these  years. 
Mr.  Parkman  was  busy  with  his  parish  and  his  farm,  and 
Mrs.  Parkman  did  not  find  time  to  keep  a  journal.  There 
were  four  girls ;  two  others  had  died.  Mary,  the  eldest,  was 
now  twenty-six ;  Susannah,  the  youngest,  was  six.  Thomas 
was  only  two  years  younger  than  Eben ;  William  was  a 
restive  boy  of  ten,  of  whom  his  father  has  to  record  that 
"  Mr.  Solomon  Wood,  Tything  man,  complains  of  [his] 
1  He  was  the  donor  of  the  town  bell  in  1801. 


THE   FIRST   PRECINCT.  1 37 

rudeness  at  church."  There  are  besides  two  baby  boys  of 
two  and  four  years,  and  now  the  new-comer.  For  some 
time  there  must  have  been  great  inconvenience  in  the 
unfinished  house,  and  much  to  do  to  keep  house  and  farm 
and  parish  in  order.  Mr.  Parkman  kept  his  stock  for  some 
time  on  his  old  place,  riding  back  and  forth  daily. 

But  if  the  minister's  house  grew  slowly,  the  meeting- 
house crept  toward  completion  at  snail's  pace.  Although 
the  first  meeting  had  been  held  there  in  September,  1749, 
just  after  the  old  house  was  torn  down,  we  find  the  precinct 
voting,  three  years  later,  in  December,  1752,  "  to  build  the 
pulpit  and  ministerial  pew,  the  gallery  stairs,  floors,  and 
breastwork  of  the  galleries,  and  to  sell  the  pews;  the 
highest  payer  in  the  two  [?]  years  they  were  building  to 
have  the  first  choice.  Chose  a  committee  to  mark  out  the 
pews  and  to  dignify  and  set  a  price  upon  each  pew.  Voted 
that  the  pew  room  on  the  floor  next  the  walls,  and  the  room 
where  the  four  hind  seats  should  be,  shall  be  called  Pew- 
Room."  Feb.  6,  1753,  they  voted  to  sell  no  pew-spot  to 
non-residents;  on  the  1 2th  they  held  the  sale.  Twenty-two 
pew-spots  were  sold,  and  the  record  of  the  sale  is  extant; 
so  that  it  is  not  difficult  to  re-seat  the  old  meeting-house 
as  it  was  in  the  year  of  grace  1753.  The  house  itself  was 
fifty  feet  by  forty ;  the  front  door  was  on  the  south  side, 
toward  the  street,  which  was  one  of  the  longer  sides ;  the 
pulpit  was  opposite;  there  were  also  doors  on  the  east 
and  west  ends.  The  pews  were  arranged  round  the  walls, 
except  in  the  two  corners  on  the  street,  where  were  stair- 
cases leading  to  the  galleries,  —  one  for  the  women  on 
the  north  side,  and  one  for  the  men  on  the  south.  The 
centre  was  occupied  by  two  rows  of  benches,  —  one  for 
the  men,  and  one  for  the  women.  The  centre  aisle  was 
five  feet  wide ;  the  two  side  alleys  and  the  rear  alley  were 


138  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

three  and  a  half  feet;    the   alley  before   the  pulpit  was 
three  feet  nine  inches  "  from  ye  deacons'  seat." 
Pew-spots  were  purchased  as  follows :  — 

"  Capt.  John  Maynard ;  pew  in  hind  seats  on  right  hand  of 
the  alley. 

Jeduthun  Fay ;  Pew-spot  on  right  hand  of  ministerial  pew. 

Jonas  Brigham ;  on  left  hand  of  alley  in  men's  seats,  next 
the  alley. 

Ja'.  Grout ;  second  pew  spot  on  right  of  east  door. 

Benj.  Fay  ;  second  pew  spot  on  left  of  west  door. 

Edward  Baker  ;  third  pew  spot  on  left  of  pulpit. 

Dea.  Josiah  Newton  ;  first  on  left  of  pulpit. 

Jonathan  Bond  ;  second  on  left  of  pulpit. 

Samuel  Harrington ;  second  on  right  hand  of  front  door. 

James  Maynard ;  between  east  door  and  the  women's  stairs. 
"  Ensign  Jas.  Miller ;  in  hind  seats  on  left  hand  on  men's  side. 

Charles  Rice  ;  on  left  hand  west  door. 

Timothy  Warren  ;  in  north-east  corner  of  meeting-house. 

Widdo  Vashty  Newton ;  in  hind  seats  on  right  hand,  next 
women's  door. 

Jonah  Warren  ;  on  right  hand  of  east  door. 

Hezekiah  Howe  ;  right  hand  west  door,  next  men's  stairs. 

Nathaniel  Whitney ;  third  spot  on  right  hand  front  door,  next 
women's  stairs. 

David  Maynard  ;  northwest  corner  of  meeting  house. 

Eliezer  Rice ;  third  spot  on  left  hand  front  door,  next  women's 
stairs. 

Lieut.  Abijah  Bruce  ;  second  spot  on  left  hand  front  door. 

Lieut.  Stephen  Maynard  ;  first  spot  on  right  hand  front  door. 

Jonathan  Forbush,  Jr. ;  first  on  left  hand  front  door  (sold  to 
E.  Parkman)." 

The  accompanying  floor-plan  will  help  in  understanding 
the  arrangement.  The  pew-spots  were  sold  at  a  price 
ranging  from  ;^i  6s.  Zd.  to  ;^5   \2s.  9^. 

Still  the  completion  of  the  house  lingered.  In  March 
it  was  voted  "  to  lath  and  plaster  overhead,"  and  in  July 


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THE   FIRST   PRECINCT.  1 39 

to  do  the  same  under  the  gallery  floors.  In  November 
it  was  voted  to  provide  materials  and  "  finish  the  meeting- 
house." But  it  still  remained  unpainted,  and  in  June, 
1754,  the  precinct  solemnly  refused  to  "Culler  the  out- 
side of  the  meeting-house,"  or  to  paint  the  breastwork  of 
the  galleries,  but  did  allow  itself  to  be  overcome  by  the 
clamor  for  pomps  and  vanities  to  the  extent  of  painting 
the  pulpit.  There  was  an  article  in  the  warrant  for  a 
meeting,  Jan,  19,  1755,  "To  see  if  this  Precinct  will  grant 
ye  petition  of  Surviah  Thurston,  Persis  Rice,  Dinah  For- 
bush,  and  others,  who  pray  that  they  may  have  Liberty 
to  hang  a  dore  and  set  banesters  on  ye  hind  seat  on  ye 
women's  side  in  ye  long  gallery  in  our  meeting-house,  and 
injoy  it  for  their  seat  in  s'^  meeting-house."  Whether  the 
petition  was  granted  does  not  appear. 

At  last,  in  March,  1755,  a  committee  was  appointed  to 
"seat  ye  meeting-house;  "  and  it  was  voted  "that  ye  aged 
Fathers  should  be  seated  according  to  their  age,  and  ye 
next  set  of  men  according  to  their  age  and  pay,  and  by 
ye  last  Invoice  with  one  head."  So,  after  long  delay,  the 
first  precinct  was  furnished  for  business  so  far  as  regards 
ecclesiastical  relations.  There  was  still  one  exception,  in 
the  case  of  the  ministerial  land,  which  continued  to  be  the 
subject  of  dispute  and  litigation  until  it  was  sold,  in  1784. 
But  the  house  was  ready  for  all  needs,  and  the  minister 
was  on  the  ground,  in  a  new  and  better  house  than  he  had 
before  ;  and  the  points  of  difference  between  north  and 
south  precincts  were  chiefly  in  other  directions. 

Some  minor  changes,  of  considerable  importance  at  the 
time,  were  adopted  in  the  services  of  the  new  meeting- 
house. Chief  among  them  was  a  change  which  sounds 
strange  to  us  of  to-day,  —  the  Scriptures  began  to  be 
read  in  church.     It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  until  near 


140  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

this  time  the  colonial  churches  were  not  in  the  habit  of 
having  the  Bible  read  in  public  worship.  It  had  been 
read,  according  to  Hutchinson,  for  some  years  in  Boston, 
but  the  custom  was  afterward  discontinued.  Sermons 
might  be  one  or  even  two  hours  long  without  offence ; 
prayers  were  not  noted  for  brevity;  the  execrable  singing 
took  up  a  good  deal  of  time :  but  the  Scripture  was  alto- 
gether omitted.  The  reason  of  the  omission  must  doubt- 
less be  found  in  the  violent  recoil  from  everything  that 
marked  the  customs  of  the  Church  of  England,  —  a  recoil 
so  extreme  as  to  lead  in  many  instances  to  absolute  ab- 
surdity. Two  considerations  help  us  to  understand  this 
fanaticism.  In  the  first  place,  the  separatists  had  endured 
much  trial  and  suffering  in  their  struggle  for  liberty  of 
worship,  and  the  church  which  had  persecuted  them  was 
sincerely  believed  by  some  of  them  to  be  in  league  with 
Satan.  And  furthermore,  the  human  mind  always  has  to 
make  a  strenuous  effort  to  tear  itself  away  from  ancient 
custom  and  provide  for  itself  a  new  environment.  It  is  a 
phenomenon  still  observed  with  great  frequency  that  those 
who  feel  themselves  forced  to  change  from  one  form  of 
belief  to  another  usually  become  more  radical  in  the  new 
faith  than  those  who  have  been  born  and  bred  in  it. 

So  it  is  a  mark  of  progress  toward  a  calmer  view  of  the 
necessities  and  proprieties  of  worship  that  on  the  i8th  of 
September,  1748,  Mr.  Parkman  records  as  follows:  "We 
this  day  began  the  public  reading  of  Scriptures.  In  the 
morning,  after  prayer,  before  singing,  I  read  the  first  chap- 
ter of  Genesis,  and  in  the  afternoon  the  first  chapter  of 
Mark."  Of  course  where  Bible  reading  savored  in  the 
minds  of  the  people  of  ritualism,  the  observance  of  church 
festivals  was  looked  upon  with  horror  as  a  leaning  toward 
popery  itself.    In  the  Laws  of  Massachusetts,  published  in 


THE   FIRST   PRECINCT.  I4I 

1672,  the  observance  of  any  such  day  as  Christmas  was 
classed  with  dancing,  playing  shuffle-board,  bowling,  play- 
ing cards  or  dice,  and  was  punishable  by  a  fine  of  five 
shillings.  This  was  afterward  repealed,  but  the  observ- 
ance of  Christmas  did  not  thereby  become  popular.  In 
Shute's  governorship  the  General  Court,  with  unneces- 
sary obstinacy,  met  on  Christmas  Days,  in  spite  of  the 
Governor's  churchly  proclivities.  He  refused  to  attend; 
whereupon  Judge  Sewall  said  the  Court  could  pass  bills 
on  that  day  anyway,  and  the  Governor  might  sign  them 
when  he  pleased. 

A  note  of  the  same  conflict  appears  in  Westborough 
about  the  time  we  are  now  considering.  There  is  an  un- 
wonted acidity  in  the  point  of  the  minister's  pen  in  a  re- 
cord made  on  Christmas  Day,  1750:  "I  hear  that  several 
of  my  neighbors,  particularly  Eliezer  Rice  and  his  wife, 
are  trapseing  off  to  Hopkinton  to  keep  Christmas  there. 
Were  any  of  them  rationally  and  sincerely  enquiring  and 
examining  into  the  grounds  of  the  controversy  between 
Prelatists  and  Dissenters,  it  were  a  different  case ;  but  they 
manifest  only  a  spirit  of  unsteadiness."  It  happened  that 
the  next  year  Rice  had  a  child  to  baptize  ;  and  of  course 
the  matter  of  his  soundness  came  under  discussion.  It 
appeared  on  examination  that  he  was  below  the  mark  in 
regard  to  the  doctrine  of  original  sin ;  that  he  sturdily 
denied,  not  only  the  imputation  of  Adam's  sin,  but  the 
corruption  of  mankind  as  the  result  of  it.  Mr.  Parkman, 
to  his  honor,  was  extremely  kind,  —  labored  with  the  delin- 
quent faithfully,  and  was  willing  to  make  any  concessions 
which  seemed  to  him  reasonable,  in  order  to  perform 
the  baptism ;  but  Rice  was  rather  stubborn,  and  at  last 
the  matter  came  before  the  church.  Mr.  Rice  stated  that 
"  though  not  utterly  denying  the  imputation  of  Adam's 


142  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

sin  to  his  posterity,  yet  he  was  apter  to  disbeHeve  it ;  " 
after  which  happy  characterization  of  a  laboring  and  un- 
certain mind,  he  was  admonished  to  inform  himself  more 
fully  on  "  those  doctrines  which  he  appeared  to  be  so 
much  in  the  dark  about,"  and  the  matter  was  laid  over. 
At  a  subsequent  meeting  the  church  refused  to  allow 
the  baptism. 

The  question  of  church  music,  which  the  pastor  had 
taken  so  vigorously  in  hand  twenty  years  before,  began 
to  break  out  with  its  chronic  disorder  again  in  1752.  This 
time  it  seems  that  there  were  those  who  desired  to  im- 
prove on  the  minister's  improvement,  which  would  not 
do ;  so  the  church  came  to  the  rescue,  and  voted  that 
they  "  were  satisfied  in  the  pastor's  having  desired  Bro. 
Ed''  Whipple  to  set  the  Tune,  and  in  the  Tunes  which 
we  have  been  wont  to  sing  in  this  congregation." 

In  May,  1752,  the  church  gave  a  letter  of  dismission  to 
Eli  Forbush,  son  of  Dea.  Jonathan  Forbush,  who  left  to 
organize  a  new  church  "  in  the  northeast  part  of  Brook- 
field,"  over  which  he  was  to  be  pastor;  and  the  church 
shortly  afterward  assisted  at  his  ordination.  This  was  the 
beginning  of  the  First  Church  of  North  Brookfield. 

The  year  1755  was  long  remembered  in  New  England 
as  the  year  of  the  great  earthquake,  which  occurred  on 
the  27th  of  March.  Probably  it  was  the  most  severe  ever 
known  in  this  region.  Chimneys  were  thrown  down  every- 
where ;  the  ends  of  brick  buildings  fell,  as  far  down  as 
the  eaves ;  springs  which  had  long  fed  wells  were  stopped, 
and  new  ones  were  opened ;  and  the  people  were  every- 
where greatly  terrified.  Mr.  Parkman  says  that  in  West- 
borough  "  it  shook  the  house  exceedingly,  tossing  and 
wrecking  as  if  all  nature  would  fall  into  pieces."  This, 
like  its  predecessor  of  1727,  was  looked  upon  by  all  the 


THE   FIRST   PRECINCT.  143 

people  as  a  direct  visitation  of  God,  and  for  years  after- 
ward faithfully  "  improved "  by  the  ministers  in  their 
appeals  to  their  congregations. 

It  was  some  time  before  the  relations  between  the  two 
precincts  were  satisfactorily  adjusted.  Next  to  the  meeting- 
house, the  question  of  schools  required  careful  handling. 
The  bounds  of  three  districts  had  been  at  least  temporarily 
fixed  in  1742,  when  the  matter  of  division  was  only  in  the 
air.  But  ten  years  later,  at  the  March  town-meeting  in 
1752,  when  the  project  of  building  a  school-house  for  a 
grammar-school  was  broached,  a  process  of  obstruction 
began  which  lasted  for  more  than  a  dozen  5^ears.  At  that 
meeting  it  was  voted  "  that  they  would  Buld  two  Scool 
houses,  and  that  they  would  set  them  as  Near  to  the  two 
meeting  houses  as  they  convenitly  can ;"  but  a  month  later, 
owing  probably  to  a  desire  to  force  the  second  precinct  to 
build  its  own  school-house,  the  town  refused  "  to  proceed 
to  build  the  two  school-houses."  The  result  of  that  was 
that  the  town,  having  more  than  one  hundred  families,  was 
again  under  presentment  for  not  having  a  grammar-school. 
Thereupon  it  was  voted  "  that  the  North  precinct  should 
be  set  off  to  be  a  district  by  themselves,  if  they  see  cause." 
But  in  the  following  April  the  town  refused  to  let  the 
second  precinct  draw  money  for  its  schools  out  of  the 
common  treasury;  and  the  question  was  hung  up  again 
indefinitely.  It  recurred  in  1756  and  in  1758,  resulting 
always  in  the  same  vote,  —  "Refused  to  build  two  school- 
houses."  And  it  was  not  until  1765  that  sufficient  advance 
was  made  to  appoint  a  committee  to  "  squadron  the  town 
for  school  purposes,  and  regulate  the  length  of  school 
in  each."  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  school  district 
system;  each  district  or  "squadron"  was  to  determine,  by 
majority  vote,  in  what  part  of  its  section  the  school  should 


144  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

be  kept.  The  two  school-houses  for  the  whole  town  were 
never  built. 

The  area  of  the  south  precinct  had  been  increased  a 
little  during  these  years ;  three  farms  from  the  northwest 
part  of  Upton  (which  was  incorporated  in  1735)  having 
been  added  in  1754,  and  four  from  Shrewsbury  applying 
for  admission  in  1762.  The  town  voted  to  receive  "the 
Shrewsbury  corner  families,"  if  they  would  build  a  road 
from  their  houses  to  the  great  road  that  goes  to  Grafton. 
These  farms  were  annexed  by  Act  of  the  General  Court 
on  the  4th  of  June,  1762.  That  the  town  exercised 
some  discrimination  in  the  reception  of  new  territory  is 
apparent  from  a  vote  passed  in  April,  1754,  when  the 
three  farms  from  Upton  were  admitted,  refusing  to  re- 
ceive Zebulon  Rice  and  Eben  Miller,  of  Upton,  with 
their  lands,  as  inhabitants  of  Westborough.  The  reason 
is  not  assigned. 

In  1755  a  new  pound  being  required,  one  was  ordered 
to  be  built  of  stones,  and  to  be  twenty-eight  feet  square 
within  the  walls.  It  stood  near  the  present  site  of  Bates' 
straw  shop.  In  1757  the  "  burying-place  "  was  enlarged 
by  the  exchange  of  a  piece  of  ground  with  Mr.  Park- 
man,  and  the  gift  of  "  a  litel  strip  of  land  "  from  Stephen 
Maynard.  In  1759  it  was  voted  "to  fence  the  Burying 
place  with  a  good  four  Rail  fence  on  three  sides,  and  the 
frunt  on  the  Rhode  with  a  good  four  feet  wall." 

The  pauper  question  was  beginning  to  assume  larger 
proportions  as  the  town  increased  in  size,  and  the  ex- 
pense of  boarding  out  those  who  were  dependent  became 
a  troublesome  item  in  town  meeting.  The  reluctance  to 
do  any  more  than  was  necessary  for  these  incompetents 
did  not  lessen.  There  is  a  vote  recorded  in  1758  which 
modern  overseers  of  the  poor  would  sometimes   like  to 


THE   FIRST   PRECINCT.  I45 

follow  in  certain  perplexing  cases  which  our  laws  do  not 
fully  provide  for;  namely,  that  they  would  not  appropri- 
ate a  penny  to  support  the  wife  of  John  Maynard,  but  that 
they  would  take  measures  to  oblige  John  to  support  his 
own  wife;    and  for  that  they  granted  two  pounds. 

About  1763  a  memorandum  was  begun  in  the  town- 
records  of  persons  warned  out  of  the  town  limits  accord- 
ing to  law,  to  prevent  their  acquiring  a  residence,  when 
it  seemed  likely  that  they  might  become  dependent  on 
the  town.  In  the  course  of  two  or  three  years  this  list 
included  thirty-eight  names,  many  of  them  being  those 
of  heads  of  families.  In  1765  it  was  voted  to  build  a 
workhouse ;  and  two  years  later  a  small  building,  thirty 
feet  by  sixteen,  and  one  story  high,  was  erected  on  land 
owned  by  Timothy  Warren,  at  a  cost  of  £26  i^s.  A^d.  In 
1770  George  Andrews,  Timothy  Warren,  and  Abijah  Gale 
were  chosen  first  overseers  of  the  poor,  and  it  was  voted 
that  the  workhouse  should  be  regulated  according  to  law. 
This  disposed  of  the  question  for  twenty  years. 

The  history  of  the  first  precinct  comes  to  an  end  in 
1766,  when  the  second  precinct  is  incorporated  as  the 
town  of  Northborough,  and  the  first  becomes  the  town  of 
Westborough,  with  its  present  boundaries.  A  division  of 
common  property  was  made  by  the  selectmen  of  the  two 
towns,  with  the  exception  of  the  ministerial  lot,  which 
remained  a  matter  of  dispute  for  eighteen  years  longer. 
The  town  had  grown  considerably  during  the  process  of 
division;  for  while  in  1744  there  were  only  one  hundred 
and  twenty-five  families  in  the  whole  town,  in  1767  West- 
borough  had  one  hundred  and  twenty  families,  and  North- 
borough  eighty-two. 


CHAPTER   XI. 

1755-1772. 

THE    FRENCH    AND     INDIAN    WAR.  —  BEGINNINGS     OF 
THE   REVOLUTION.  —  CHURCH   MUSIC   AGAIN. 

'HPHE  eight  years  from  1755  to  1763  were  full  of  public 
■*-  excitements  and  dangers.  The  long  struggle  be- 
tween English  and  French  for  the  possession  of  the  broad 
lands  of  the  New  World  was  passing  through  its  culmina- 
tion. The  draft  upon  the  Colonies  to  furnish  men  and 
money  for  this  struggle,  which  came  to  be  known  as  "  the 
French  and  Indian  War  "  par  excellence,  was  very  severe. 
Massachusetts  had  put  seven  thousand  men  in  the  field  in 
1757,  and  was  financially  ruined.  Not  a  town  but  must 
have  felt  the  strain  to  be  severe.  There  are,  however, 
no  records  of  the  time  in  Westborough  which  throw 
any  light  on  the  part  taken  by  the  town  in  the  eight 
years'  struggle  ;  Capt.  Benjamin  Fay  and  Capt.  Bezaleel 
Eager  are  said  to  have  been  in  command  of  companies, 
but  there  are  no  muster-rolls  which  give  their  men. 
There  is  a  roll  in  the  State  archives  of  a  company  in  a 
regiment  sent  to  Crown  Point  in  1755,  under  command 
of  Col.  Josiah  Brown,  of  which  one  John  Fay  was  cap- 
tain,^ containing  three  men  from  Southborough,  six  from 
Grafton,  ten  from  Shrewsbury,  ten  from  Marlborough,  six 
from  Upton,   five  from  Uxbridge,    and    six    from   West- 

1  If  this  John  Fay  was  a  Westborough  man,  he  must  have  been  the 
grandson  of  the  original  John  Fay  (who  died  Jan.  5,  1748),  and  was  at  this 
time  only  twenty  years  old. 


THE   FRENCH   AND   INDIAN   WAR.  I47 

borough.  The  names  of  the  Westborough  men  are  else- 
where given  as  John  Butler,  Joseph  Hudson,  Henry 
Gashett,  John  Caruth,  Adam  Fay,  and  Thaddeus  Warren. 
Charles  Rice,  of  Westborough,  is  enrolled  in  1755  in  a 
company  commanded  by  John  Taplin.  This  was  in  the 
very  beginning  of  the  war;  and  there  were  frequent  levies 
afterward,  until  the  young  men  had  very  generally  ob- 
tained an  opportunity  to  smell  powder  in  the  campaign. 

In  the  absence  of  direct  statements  and  statistics,  we 
have,  in  a  sermon  of  Mr.  Parkman's,  a  very  good  impres- 
sion of  the  general  feeling  at  the  time,  and  the  anxieties 
and  burdens  which  were  testing  the  fibre  of  the  people. 
The  sermon  is  in  print,  and  a  copy  is  in  the  library  of 
Harvard  College.  It  was  a  special  sermon,  preached  at 
Southborough  May  15,  1757,  and  dedicated  as  follows: 

"  To  the  Rev.  Mr.  Nathan  Stone,  Pastor,  and  to  the  flock  of 
Christ  in  Southborough,  the  ensuing  plain  Composure,  but  such 
as  it  is,  in  testimony  of  hearty  gratitude  for  the  kind  acceptance 
of  his  occasional  labors  among  them,  is  humbly  inscribed  by 
their  affectionate  soul-friend  and  humble  servant,  the  Author." 

Its  title  is  quaint  enough :  "  Reformers  and  Interces- 
sors Sought  by  God,  Who  Grieves  when  they  are  Hard  to 
be  Found,  as  exhibited  and  applied  in  a  plain  but  serious 
Discourse  on  Ezek.  22,  ver.  30."  The  text  reads :  "  And 
I  sought  for  a  man  among  them,  that  should  make  up  the 
hedge,  and  stand  in  the  gap  before  me  for  the  land,  that 
I  should  not  destroy  it:  but  I  found  none."  The  whole 
sermon  is  quaint,  and  not  lacking  in  force  and  pungency; 
it  has  five  heads,  as  follows :  -^- 

"  I.  God  is  not  o'  mind  to  destroy  the  land  of  his  peculiar 
covenant  people,  for  whom  he  has  had  very  special  regard. 

"  II.  Gap-men,  Reformers,  and  Intercessors  are  of  great  ser- 
vice to  prevent  the  desolating  judgments  of  God. 


148  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

"  III.  When  God  sees  destruction  coming  upon  his  people 
and  upon  the  land  he  has  peculiar  regard  to,  he  looks  for  a 
Gap-man  that  may  prevent  it. 

"  IV.  But  he  sometimes  finds  such  are  scarce.  It  is  here  said 
he  found  none. 

"  V.  When  it  is  so,  he  laments  it." 

There  follows  some  discourse  on  the  character  of  "  gap- 
men,"  their  influence  as  intercessors,  etc.,  "  as  argued  from 
the  Scriptures  and  the  nature  of  the  Divine  Being."  Per- 
haps it  is  necessary  to  explain  now,  as  it  was  not  at  the 
time,  that  the  men  he  has  chiefly  in  view  as  "  gap-men 
and  intercessors  "  are  the  ministers  of  the  churches.  Mr. 
Parkman  belonged  to  what  was,  even  in  his  own  day,  the 
old  regime,  —  the  Puritanism  of  the  time  of  the  first  char- 
ter, which  made  the  church  the  basis  of  civil  society,  and 
its  ministers  the  most  important  men  in  the  Common- 
wealth. And  it  must  be  said  that  he  lent  honor  to  his 
calling,  even  on  this  high  estimate  of  it. 

The  "  application "  of  the  sermon  is  a  sample  of  the 
preaching  for  the  times  which  was  in  vogue  at  that  day. 
It  also  is  divided  into  five  heads,  of  which  the  last  is 
subdivided  into  two  :  — 

"  I.  We  are  ourselves,  here  in  this  land,  in  covenant  with  God. 

"  2.  Sin  has  made  an  awful  breach,  and  opened  a  wide  and 
horrible  gap,  at  which  all  happiness  is  ready  to  depart,  and 
numberless  evils  to  rush  in  ;  so  that  we  stand  in  great  need  of 
reformers  and  intercessors. 

"  3.  Does  God  ever  seek  those  who  will  make  up  the  hedge, 
and  stand  in  the  gap  before  him,  for  the  land  } 

"  4.  The  number  is  too  small,  and  many  are  dying. ^  We 
may  fear  what  God  will  permit  the  savages,  with  their  insidious 
instigators  to  do  in  our  sinning  New  England,  when  the  Pious 
intercessors  are  removed. 

1  This  is  a  reference  to  the  fact  that  "  many  ministers  have  lately 
deceased." 


THE  FRENCH   AND   INDIAN  WAR.  I49 

"5.  What  reason  we  have  to  fear  on  account  of  our  exposed- 
ness  to  Divine  Resentments  at  this  very  time. 

"  (a)  As  God's  indignation  has  been  poured  out  already  in 
a  variety  of  judgments  upon  us,  and  which,  divers  of  them,  are 
now  upon  us,  so  he  will  consume  us  with  the  fire  of  his  wrath 
kindled  up  in  the  war  we  are  so  distressed  by,  and  by  other  sore 
judgments  which  threaten,  unless  there  is  some  suitable  altera- 
tions among  us.  [This  he  illustrates  at  length  from  the  history 
of  the  destruction  of  the  Jews,  and  then  proceeds.]  Our  sins 
are  now  nearly  ripe.  The  kingdoms  of  Europe  are  greatly 
moved.  Our  own  land  is  one  of  the  principal  theatres  for  ac- 
tion. The  whole  Protestant  cause  is  in  danger.  He  may  suffer 
the  anti-christian  adversaries,  aided  by  the  hideous  monsters  of 
the  wood,  literally  blood-thirsty,  and  whose  even  tender  mercy 
is  cruelty  itself,  to  prevail  over  us.  [This  is  still  farther  illus- 
trated from  the  fate  of  the  ancient  churches.] 

"  (i>)  We  are  as  stubble  before  this  fiery  indignation  and 
wrath  on  account  of  our  sins.  [After  this  has  been  sufficiently 
dwelt  upon,  he  ends  the  discourse  by  a  few  "  closing  incite- 
ments."] First,  To  the  careless,  impious,  and  flagitious,  there 
is  little  to  be  said  ;  the  greater  part  of  them,  there  is  reason  to 
fear,  will  be  swept  away  in  the  flood  of  Divine  indignation,  and 
will  be  made  eternal  monuments  of  his  unquenchable  wrath. 
Secondly,  To  those  more  susceptible.  Open  your  eyes  ;  see 
immoralities  abound  ;  vices  of  all  kinds ;  principles  esteemed 
very  bad  until  now  ;  pernicious  sentiments  in  religion.  God  is 
sure  to  execute  his  judgments.  Think  of  what  may  be  when  our 
foes  sweep  us  away  !  Homes  burned,  houses  of  God  burned  or 
turned  into  Mass  houses  or  temples  for  paganish  rites,  to  the 
honor  or  great  rejoicing  of  the  Devil ;  calamities  on  the  feeble 
and  defenceless,  the  aged  and  sick,  on  women  and  children  ! 

"  What  a  welcome  3'ou  will  have  at  the  throne  of  grace  on 
such  an  errand  of  intercession!  And  mayn't  it  tend  to  the 
Divine  glory .-'  " 

It  is  easy  to  see  w^hat  a  profound  impression  such  a  ser- 
mon would  make  at  a  time  of  great  fear  and  excitement, 
upon  those  who  were  taught  to  consider  every  public 
danger  and  calamity  as  a  direct  indication  of  the  fierce 


150  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

wrath  of  the  God  of  whom  they  were  sore  afraid.  To 
us  it  is  interesting  both  as  a  sample  of  the  way  in  which 
Mr.  Parkman  exercised  the  function  of  the  prophet,  and 
still  more  as  a  mark  of  the  feeling  of  the  time,  and  the 
strain  under  which  the  people  lived  during  the  contest 
with  Catholic  France  for  the  possession  of  the  Western 
valleys.  Not  a  little  was  added  to  the  burden  of  anxiety 
,for  the  success  of  the  English  arms,  and  the  heavier  bur- 
dens of  intolerable  taxation  and  of  the  peril  of  sons  and 
brothers  at  the  front,  by  the  religious  conceptions  of  the 
Puritan  age  and  the  unspeakable  dread  of  subjection  to 
the  domination  of  Rome. 

Mr.  Parkman  preached  the  annual  sermon  before  the 
Convention  of  Ministers  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts 
Bay  in  New  England  in  Boston,  on  the  28th  of  May,  1761, 
in  which  he  alluded  to  "  the  remarkable  success  of  our 
arms  "  [Wolfe's  decisive  victory  had  been  won  a  year  and 
a  half  before]  ;  "  but  especially  the  happy  accession  of  His 
most  sacred  Majesty  King  George  the  Illd  to  the  British 
throne,"  as  "  tokens  of  the  Divine  favor  to  constrain  min- 
isters to  be  more  diligent  in  his  service." 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  there  is  a  mild  touch  of  syco- 
phancy in  that  last  allusion,  due  to  the  presence  in  the 
Boston  of  that  day  of  so  many  of  His  Majesty's  retainers. 
But  it  was  a  great  honor  to  the  Westborough  minister  to 
be  invited  to  preach  the  Convention  sermon,  and  his  heart 
was  full  of  good-will.  This  is  the  first  reference  to  the 
famous  Anniversary  week,  which  became  afterward  such 
a  characteristic  New  England  institution.  It  is  to  be 
hoped,  though  without  over-confidence,  that  when  Mr. 
Parkman  preached  it  did  not  rain. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  a  period  which  was  to  test  to 
the  utmost  the  quality  of  the  yeomen  of  these  western 


BEGINNINGS   OF  THE  REVOLUTION.  151 

farms  of  the  Province  of  Massachusetts  Bay.  George  III. 
began  his  reign  in  October,  1760.  The  events  immedi- 
ately following  did  not  reassure  those  who,  for  the  greater 
part  of  their  lives,  like  their  fathers  for  a  century  pre- 
vious, had  been  struggling  under  the  burden  of  unjust 
taxation  and  of  laws  that  discriminated  against  the  Prov- 
ince. "  The  child  Independence  was  born,"  said  John 
Adams,  "when,  in  1761,  James  Otis,  counsel  for  the 
British  Admiralty,  being  ordered  to  defend  the  writs  of 
Assistance,  authorizing  the  searching  of  warehouses  for 
goods  that  had  not  paid  the  prescribed  duties,  promptly 
resigned  his  office,  and  appeared  in  defence  of  the  people, 
saying,  *  To  my  dying  day  I  will  oppose,  with  all  the 
power  and  faculties  God  has  given  .  me,  all  such  instru- 
ments of  slavery  on  the  one  hand,  and  villainy  on  the 
other.'  " 

In  March,  1765,  was  passed  the  odious  Stamp  Act, 
making  all  paper  illegal  for  business  purposes  and  printing 
which  had  not  certain  stamps  affixed,  the  sale  of  which 
was  to  bring  the  Government  rich  revenue.  As  soon  as 
the  action  became  known,  the  greatest  excitement  pre- 
vailed ;  and  before  the  time  had  arrived  for  the  Act  to 
become  law,  the  opposition  to  it  was  so  well  organized 
that  it  was  never  enforced. 

In  Boston,  on  the  14th  of  August,  a  crowd  of  rebels 
thronged  the  streets,  hanged  Andrew  Oliver,  the  revenue 
officer,  in  effigy,  and  forcibly  entered  his  house.  The 
news  of  the  disturbance  spread  like  wildfire.  There  was 
sympathy  with  the  rioters  in  the  back  towns  as  well  as 
on  the  seaboard.  Mr.  Parkman  attended  a  meeting  of  the 
Ministers'  Association  in  Marlborough  a  few  days  later, 
where  he  says,  "  All  the  talk  was  of  the  Stamp  Act  riots 
in  Boston,  and  the  hanging  of  Mr.  A.  O.  in  efUgy." 


152  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

In  the  October  following  the  town  gave  some  instruc- 
tions to  its  representative,  Francis  Whipple,  the  tenor  of 
which  was  not  likely  to  be  misunderstood  by  His  Majesty's 
servants.     These  instructions  set  forth,  — 

That  with  all  Humilit}',  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  town  that  the 
Inhabitants  of  the  Province  have  a  Legal  Claim  to  the  Natural, 
Inherent,  Constitutional  Rights  of  Englishmen,  Notwithstanding 
their  Great  Distance  from  Grate  Britton  ;  and  that  the  Stamp 
Act  is  an  Infringement  upon  these  Rights  ;  therefore  we  cannot 
be  active  in  puting  our  Necks  under  such  a  Grevios  Yoke  ;  and 
we  think  it  proper  in  the  present  Conjunction  of  affairs  to  Give 
you,  our  Representative,  the  following  Instructions,  viz.,  That 
you  promote,  and  Readily  Join  in  all  such  Dutiful  Remon- 
strances and  humble  Petitions  to  the  King  and  Parliment,  and 
other  Desent  measures  as  may  have  a  tendency  to  obtain  a  Re- 
peal of  the  s"*  Stamp  act ;  and  you  are  hereby  Directed  by  no 
Means  What  So  Ever,  to  do  any  thing  that  may  aid  the  s'^  Stamp 
act  in  its  operation,  and  you  are  hereby  Directed  to  Dwo  all  in 
your  power  to  Surpress  and  to  prevente  all  Rioatus  Assemblies 
and  unlawful  acts  of  Violence  upon  the  Persons  or  Substance  of 
any  of  his  Majesty's  Subjects;  and  further- more,  you  are  hereby 
Instructed  that  you  be  not  Aiding  or  assisting  in  Making  any 
unusual  Grants  out  of  the  Province  Treasurie  to  Repear  any 
Damiges  which  we  of  this  Town  had  no  hand  in. 

(signed)  Jonathan  Bond, 

Moderator, 
To  Francis  Whipple,  Representative. 

The  temper  of  these  instructions  is  admirable.  No  sub- 
mission to  unjust  oppression,  no  surrender  of  the  rights 
of  free-born  Englishmen ;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  no  mob- 
law,  no  rioting,  nor  —  with  a  fine  distinction  —  any  paying 
for  damages  occurring  through  the  riotous  acts  of  others  in 
which,  whether  sorry  for  them  or  not,  the  people  of  the 
town  had  no  share. 

In  November  the  church  held  a  fast  on  account  of  the 


BEGINNINGS    OF  THE   REVOLUTION.  1 53 

distress  in  the  Colonies,  The  prospect  was  not  cheering. 
Every  one  felt  the  pressure  of  the  time.  The  next  few 
months  were  heavy  with  foreboding.  But  on  the  17th  of 
May,  1766,  just  after  the  division  between  Westborough 
and  Northborough  was  accomplished,  the  welcome  news 
reached  town  that  the  detested  Act  was  repealed,  and  there 
was  great  rejoicing. 

There  are  no  important  records  of  the  town  relating  to 
the  affairs  of  the  Province  for  the  next  six  years,  except 
that  on  the  call  for  a  convention  of  Massachusetts  towns  in 
Faneuil  Hall  in  1768,  after  Boston  had  refused  to  import 
any  more  British  goods  on  account  of  newly  imposed 
duties,  Westborough  responded  promptly,  and  sent  her 
leading  man  as  delegate,  —  Capt.  Stephen  Maynard, 
afterward  foremost  in  all  military  affairs  ;  and  that  not 
far  from  the  same  time  the  ministerial  association  of 
this  vicinity  held  a  fast  in  Westborough  on  account  of 
the  civil  troubles.  The  next  four  years  passed  in  com- 
parative quiet. 

Meantime  the  town  was  growing  and  prosperous.  Not- 
withstanding the  loss  of  the  north  precinct,  the  new  meet- 
ing-house was  already  becoming  too  small.  In  September, 
1768,  the  town  took  measures  to  increase  the  seating 
capacity,  "  to  make  more  room  especially  for  the  men, 
who  are  very  much  crowded."  Think  of  that,  in  these 
days  when  from  two  thirds  to  three  fourths  of  the  attend- 
ants at  church  are  women !  On  the  14th  of  November 
the  committee  appointed  made  their  report,  which  is 
worth  preserving:  — 

They  are  of  opinion  that  ye  Body  of  seats  below  be  moved 
one  foot  forward,  and  that  all  ye  seats  Except  ye  foreseat  be 
made  three  inches  narrower,  &  take  one  foot  out  of  ye  alley 
behind  ye  Pews,  either  forward  or  Backward,  that  is  before  ye 


'  the  comm. 


154  EARLY  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

alley  as  ye  owners  shall  chuse ;  that  taking  the  hind  seat  there 
will  be  Room  for  4  pews  more  in  ye  Body  of  ye  house,  and  that 
their  be  a  pew  built  over  ye  stairs  in  ye  men's  side  wide  enough 
for  3  seats  ;  or  as  wide  as  a  workman  shall  think  will  not  dis- 
commode ye  passing  up  and  down  ye  stairs  ;  &  that  ye  parting 
in  ye  front  gallery  be  Removed  into  ye  women's  end  so  far  as 
there  may  be  Room  for  3  persons  to  set  in  each  seat. 
WESTBOROUGH,  Oct'  ye  loth,  1768. 

Francis  Whipple, 
JoN^  Fay, 
Jon'^  Bond, 
Timothy  Warrin,  _ 

Ye  above  report  was  accepted. 

This  was  ingenious  enough ;  but  it  indicated  that  there 
had  been  some  lack  of  foresight  when  the  meeting-house 
was  built,  only  ten  years  before,  or  it  would  not  have 
been  already  crowded  to  its  utmost  capacity.  In  the 
April  following,  the  measures  proposed  by  the  committee 
were  carried  out;  but  the  town  continued  to  grow,  and 
five  years  later  more  radical  plans  of  enlargement  were 
necessary.  In  1772  a  little  relief  was  gained  by  the  pro- 
vision "  that  ye  women's  front  Gallery  should  be  for  ye 
men  to  sit  in  Except  ye  Front  Pue,  and  to  remove  ye 
partition  between  ye  men  and  women's  seats  to  ye  east 
end  of  ye  women's  seats."  But  this,  though  apparently 
leaving  very  little  room  for  the  women,  was  a  very  tem- 
porary relief;  and  the  following  year,  in  the  midst  of 
much  public  excitement  concerning  the  affairs  of  the 
Province,  the  town  chose  "  a  Committy  to  Vue  sum 
meeting  houses  that  hav  ben  Cut  in  two  &  a  pcce  put  in 
ye  meedel."  The  committee  reporting  favorably,  "  ye 
Town  voted  to  split  ye  meeting  house  &  put  in  14  feet." 
It  was   farther    voted    to    build    three    porches,    and    to 


CHURCH   MUSIC   AGAIN.  155 

repair  where  needful.  In  April  the  work  was  so  far 
on  foot  as  to  require  the  usual  vote  that  the  committee 
"should  provide  the  necessary  drink  for  the  workmen 
and  those  that  assist  when  they  move  and  raise  those 
parts  of  the  meeting  house  which  are  to  be  moved  and 
raised,  &  provide  liquor  for  the  carpenters  and  workmen 
when  they  shall  work  at  the  meeting-house."  Certain 
vain  persons  appear  to  have  aspired  to  a  steeple;  but 
that  extravagance  was  rebuked  by  a  very  decided  vote 
in  June  "  not  to  build  a  steeple;  "  and  when  those  who 
desired  it  offered  to  be  responsible  for  the  expense,  a 
still  more  emphatic  answer  was  recorded  in  August  that 
they  would  not  have  a  steeple  built  free  of  cost  to  the 
town.  The  steeple  was  to  come,  but  not  till  twenty- 
eight  years  afterward,  when  a  bell  was  presented  to  them, 
and  they  must  needs  have  a  place  to  hang  it.^ 

There  is  a  way-mark  of  progress  in  the  introduction,  in 
1 77 1,  of  a  change  in  the  service  of  song  in  the  house 
of  the  Lord.  On  the  24th  of  February  the  church 
voted,  "  by  a  great  majority,  to  use  that  Version  of  ye 
Psalms  which  was  set  forth  by  Dr.  Brady  and  Nahum 
Tate,  Esq.,  with  the  Addition  of  as  many  of  Dr.  Watts' 
Hymns  as  can  conveniently  be  obtained."  Only  three 
members  of  the  church  failed  to  vote  on  this  occasion, — 
two,  because  they  wished  to  wait  and  see  what  the  congre- 
gation would  say;  and  one,  because  "he  knew  nothing 
about  it,  having  never  seen  one  of  them  in  his  Life."  On 
the    1 2th  of  May  the  congregation  was  informed  of  the 


1  The  three  porches  built  at  this  time,  though  long  ago  removed  from 
the  building,  are  still  in  existence.  One  of  them  was  transformed  into  the 
house  now  occupied  by  Mrs.  Wilson,  on  Boardman  Street ;  another  into  the 
house  of  Mr.  Arnold,  on  Heath  Street ;  and  the  third  into  the  small  house 
on  the  grounds  of  the  "  Blake  Place,"  on  West  Main  Street. 


156  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

vote  of  the  church,  and  concurred  "  by  a  silential  vote." 
It  was  then  ordered  that  objections,  if  there  were  any, 
should  be  brought  in  before  the  next  Sabbath  or  the  Sab- 
bath after.  On  the  27th  of  June  the  church,  "  that  we 
might  have  peace  and  harmony,  .  .  .  condescended  that 
the  Congregation,  males  of  ye  age  of  21  years,  might  have 
liberty"  to  vote  in  the  choice  of  leaders;  and  accordingly 
they  proceeded  to  the  radical  step  of  electing  four  leaders 
to  conduct  the  singing. 

This  is  the  second  step,  and  an  important  one,  in  the 
history  of  the  musical  contest.  The  first  was  taken  forty 
years  before,  and  has  been  already  mentioned.  That  was 
the  adoption  of  the  use  of  a  greater  variety  of  tunes,  and 
of  written  music ;  since  that  time  the  psalm  had  been 
read,  or  "  lined  out,"  one  line  at  a  time,  and  the  people 
had  sung  as  best  they  could,  but  without  much  regard 
to  time  or  melody.  The  present  change  was  the  enter- 
ing wedge  of  the  much  greater  innovation  which  in  due 
time  introduced  the  choir.  The  adoption  of  the  Tate 
and  Brady  version  of  the  psalms,  which  had  been  pub- 
lished in  England  early  in  the  century,  but  which  a  re- 
luctance to  be  indebted  to  English  workmanship  had 
kept  out  of  use  here  hitherto,  was  an  improvement  in 
the  quality  of  the  psalmody ;  and  the  introduction  of 
some  of  Watts's  hymns  was  a  much  greater  step  in  ad- 
vance. But  the  most  radical  innovation  of  all  was  the 
appointment  of  four  "  leaders."  It  led  in  time  to  the 
disuse  of  the  old  custom  of  lining  out,  dear  to  the  soul 
of  many  a  deacon  and  clerk,  and  gallantly  fought  for  in 
many  a  meeting-house  in  those  days.  The  same  step 
had  been  taken  in  Worcester  the  year  before,  and  was 
part  of  a  very  general  movement  growing  out  of  the 
increasing    instruction   and    inteUigence    on    the    subject. 


CHURCH   MUSIC   AGAIN.  1 57 

These  four  men  were  to  sit  together  and  lead  off  in  the 
singing.  It  was  not  long  before  they  and  some  others 
grew  extremely  tired  of  waiting  after  the  singing  of  every 
line  for  the  clerk  to  read  the  next;  so  it  came  to  pass 
that  the  next  thing  desired  by  the  party  of  progress  was 
the  dispensing  with  the  function  of  reader.  It  was 
achieved,  however,  as  so  many  things  are,  by  indirec- 
tion. It  was  seven  years  afterward  that  the  first  choir 
appeared  in  the  Westborough  meeting-house,  and  the 
innovation  was  indorsed  by  the  following  town-vote,  re- 
commending "  to  those  male  persons  who  are  disposed 
to  sing  the  praises  of  God  in  publick  to  set  as  much 
together  as  they  conveniently  can,  in  ye  men's  front  Gal- 
lery, without  depriving  those  who  usually  set  there  of 
their  places.  And  to  those  female  persons  who  in  like 
manner  are  disposed  to  sing,  to  set  in  ye  women's  front 
gallery  for  ye  purpose  aforesaid,  and  to  Set  there  in  a 
decent  manner  during  ye  town's  pleasure." 

This  action  of  1778  seems  to  have  been  well  up  to  the 
stage  of  progress  then  possible,  and  the  permission  to 
women  as  well  as  men  to  sing  in  the  choir  was  in  ad- 
vance of  the  prevailing  custom.  So  far  as  the  record 
shows,  there  was  no  serious  opposition  to  the  change. 
In  1 78 1  the  west  end  of  the  men's  gallery,  as  far  as  the 
alley,  was  appropriated  "  to  those  that  were  inclined  to 
assist  in  the  worship  of  singing  on  the  Sabbath ;  "  and 
thus  the  church  was  fairly  committed  to  the  innovation 
of  a  choir. 


CHAPTER   XII. 

1772-1780. 

IN    THE    REVOLUTIONARY    WAR. 

THE  year  1772  brought  the  affairs  of  the  Colony  to  an 
alarming  crisis.  On  the  2d  of  November  Samuel 
Adams,  in  town-meeting  in  Boston,  moved  that  a  com- 
mittee of  correspondence  be  appointed  "to  state  the  rights 
of  the  Colonists,  and  of  the  Province  in  particular,  as  men 
and  Christians  and  as  subjects;  and  to  communicate  and 
publish  the  same  to  the  several  towns  and  the  world,  as 
the  sense  of  this  town,  with  the  infringements  and  viola- 
tions thereof  which  have  been,  or  from  time  to  time  may 
be  made."  Two  weeks  later  the  committee,  through  James 
Otis,  its  chairman,  reported  in  a  clear  and  unequivocal 
document,  the  substance  of  which  was  issued  in  a  circular 
letter  to  the  towns,  calling  for  an  expression  of  their 
opinion  and  sentiments  in  regard  to  the  common  danger. 

The  response  that  came  in  from  town  after  town  was 
like  the  running  fire  of  musketry.  Suffolk,  Essex,  Middle- 
sex, Worcester,  Cape  Cod,  and  the  West  spoke  unani- 
mously by  all  their  towns.  Westborough  was  not  behind 
in  patriotism,  as  the  following  record  shows :  — 

At  a  Legal  meeting  of  ye  Freeholders  &  other  Inhabitants 
of  ye  Town  of  Westborough,  on  Fryday,  ye  First  Day  of  Janu'', 
1773,  the  following  Vote  passed  (viz.),  that  a  Committy  of  7  men 
be  chosen  To  take  into  Consideration  ye  Rights  as  Stated  by 
ye  Committee  of  Correspondence  of  ye  Town  of  Boston,  &  ye 


IN  THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR.  1 59 

Infringements  and  Violation  of  ye  same,  &  to  make  Report  at 
the  Adjournment  of  this  meeting  (viz.),  on  Monday  ye  4  Instant. 

S''-  Committy  Taking  into  consideration  ye  State  of  ye  Colo- 
nists, and  of  this  province  in  particular,  &  a  List  of  ye  Infringe- 
ments &  Violations  of  those  Rights,  &  a  Letter  of  Correspondence 
Voted  by  ye  Freeholders  &  other  Inhabitants  of  ye  Town  of 
Boston  att  their  late  Publick  Town  meeting,  &  by  their  Com- 
mittee of  Correspondence  Transmitted  to  this  Town,  — 

Having  considered  the  Same,  are  of  Opinion  that  the  Rights 
of  ye  Colonists,  &  of  this  Province  in  perticuler,  as  men  &  as 
Subjects,  are  well  Stated  in  s''  List,  as  ye  same  are  fully  sup- 
ported &  warranted  by  ye  Laws  of  God  &  Nature  &  ye  Royal 
Charter  of  this  province.  Under  ye  present  critical  and  alarum- 
ing  Situation  of  our  publick  affairs  There  is  a  loud  call  to  Every 
one  to  awake  from  Security,  &  in  Earnest  strive  to  secure  his 
Liberty,  lest  he  politically  perish.  That  as  ye  Oppressions  com- 
plained of  are  of  ye  utmost  consequence,  &  if  not  confronted 
will  soon  Termanate  in  ye  Ruin  of  this  Province,  —  Especially  ye 
Extorting  our  moneys  from  us  without  our  consent  by  our  Selves 
or  our  Representative,  &  applying  it  to  Uses  which  we  Judge  is 
determental  to  this  Province,  —  it  Appears  Necessary  that  Every 
member  of  this  Community,  Quallified  to  vote  in  Town  affairs, 
should  at  all  times  have  a  proper  sense  of  them,  more  especially 
as  ye  Futer  happiness  of  his  Family,  as  well  as  him  self,  Depends 
Greatly  on  their  being  removed.  For  no  Bought  ware  tyrany  is 
Exercised,  Opposition  becoms  a  duty.  As  our  fathers  could,  so 
can  we  plead  our  Loyalty  j  we  have  been,  and  now  are,  Ready 
to  spill  our  Dearest  blood  in  Defence  of  our  King,  Religion,  & 
Constitutional  Laws.  We  cannot  but  look  upon  it  a  hard  Trial, 
yea  greater  than  we  can  bear,  if  we  cannot  [be  said  to]  Give  full 
proof  of  our  Loyalty  Otherwise  than  by  sacrificing  those  Rights 
&  Liberties  which  we  prize  beyond  Life  itself.  Therefore  ye 
Inhabitants  of  this  Town  do  Declare  it  to  the  world  that  they 
are  far  from  being  Easy  under  ye  many  Infringements  and  In- 
tolarable  Violations  of  those  Rights  and  priveleges ;  first,  we 
Do  therefore  Instruct  our  Representitive,  when  in  General  Cort 
assembled,  that  he  use  his  Influence  in  Soliciting  his  Excelancy, 
ye  Governor  of  this  province,  that  [he]  Joyne  unitedly  with  this 


l6o  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

province,  that  my  Lord  Dartmouth  and  our  most  Gracious  Sov- 
erring  may  be  fully  acquainted  with  ye  Real  Uneasiness  which 
so  justly  fills  ye  minds  of  us  his  most  Loyal  people. 

2ly,  our  Representitive  is  hereby  instructed  to  unite  in  such 
measures  as  shall  pleas  ye  Governor  of  this  province  &  ye 
Judges  of  ye  Superiour  Corts  of  the  province,  upon  a  constitu- 
tional Basis,  &  make  them  a  Sutable  Provision  for  their  support; 
and  that  Nothing  more  seems  Needfully  by  us  to  be  Don,  but 
to  Leve  ye  Instructions  given  to  ye  prudant  Manigment  of  our 
Representitive;  Reposing  our  confidence  in  him,  that  he  will 
exert  himself  at  all  times,  with  ye  other  members  of  s"^  Court, 
in  such  measures  as  may  have  a  Tendency  to  ye  obtaining  a 
Redress  of  all  such  Grevences  as  are  Justly  complained  of,  & 
ye  Procuring  to  this  Loyal  people  ye  peceful  Enjoyments  of 
their  Just  Rights. 

{Signed)  Phineas  Hardy, 

Chairman  of  ye  Comtnity, 

Capt.  Benj"  Fay,        Eben*^  Maynard, 
Dan^  Forbes,  Abij"  Gale, 

Hananiah  Parker,     Dr.  James  Hawes. 

In  1774  measures  were  set  on  foot  which  resulted  in 
the  first  Congress  of  the  Colonies  at  Philadelphia  in 
September.  The  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  ap- 
pointed its  delegates,  and  authorized  the  payment  to 
them  of  iJ'soo  for  expenses.  This  appropriation  was  of 
course  vetoed  by  Governor  Gage  ;  whereupon  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  assembled  at  Salem  June  17,  sent  out  an  ap- 
peal to  the  towns  for  the  money.  The  share  which  fell  to 
Westborough,  and  which  was  promptly  paid,  was  £\  <^s.  id. 
Shortly  afterward  another  appeal  came  from  the  people 
of  Boston.  Boston  Harbor  was  blockaded,  and  the  city 
in  a  state  of  siege.  King  George  was  trying  "  the  heavy 
hand  of  power "  to  coerce  the  Colonies  into  obedience. 
The  people  appealed  to  their  compatriots. 

"  You,  gentlemen,"  they  said,  "  our  friends,  countrymen,  and 
benefactors,  may  possibly  look  towards   us   at  this  crisis.     We 


IN  THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR.  l6l 

trust  we  shall  not  be  left  of  Heaven  to  do  any  thing  derogatory 
to  our  common  liberties,  unworthy  the  fame  of  our  ancestors,  or 
inconsistent  with  our  former  professions  and  conduct.  Though 
surrounded  with  a  large  body  of  armed  men,  (who,  having  the 
sword,  have  also  our  blood  on  their  hands,)  we  are  yet  undaunted  : 
We  trust  in  the  God  of  our  fathers,  and  we  feel  the  animating 
support  of  a  good  cause ;  but  while  suffering  a  Double  weight 
of  oppression,  and  exasperated  by  a  military  camp  in  the  very 
bowels  of  our  town,  our  minds  are  not  more  in  a  temper  to  delib- 
erate than  our  bodies  in  a  situation  to  move^  as  the  perils  and 
exigencies  of  the  times  may  probably  demand. 

"To  you,  gentlemen,  our  brethren  and  dear  companions  in 
the  cause  of  God  and  our  country,  we  apply ;  from  you  we  have 
received  the  countenance  and  aid  which  have  strengthened  our 
hands,  and  that  bounty  which  hath  occasioned  smiles  on  the 
face  of  distress :  To  you,  therefore,  we  look  for  that  wisdom^ 
advice,  and  example  which,  giving  strength  to  our  understand- 
ing, and  vigor  to  our  actions,  shall,  with  the  blessing  of  God, 
save  us  from  destruction." 

In  response  to  such  appeals  as  this,  a  Committee  of  Cor- 
respondence was  appointed,  consisting  of  Jonathan  Bond, 
Daniel  Forbes,  Hananiah  Parker,  Dr.  James  Hawes,  Lieu- 
tenant Baker,  Thomas  Bond,  and  Joseph  Harrington.  At 
the  same  meeting,  June  17,  1774,  the  committee  was  in- 
structed to  confer  with  the  committees  of  the  towns  of 
the  county  at  Worcester,  "  in  this  dark  and  distressing 
time  of  perplexity." 

Still  more  warlike  was  the  appointment  of  committees 
to  buy  "a  field-piece,  a  four-pounder,"  and  four  hundred 
weight  of  ball,  with  ten  half-barrels  of  powder  and  five 
hundred  weight  of  lead  and  flints ;  and  of  another  com- 
mittee to  provision  troops  in  case  of  an  alarm. 

Then  Capt.  Stephen  Maynard  was  appointed  commander 
of  all  the  soldiers  in  town  in  case  of  an  alarm;  the  existing 
artillery   companies   were   authorized,    and    their   officers 


l62  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

recognized  by  reappointment  in  town  meeting;  recruits 
were  called  for,  and  ordered  to  be  armed  and  equipped 
as  the  law  directed.  Subscriptions  were  requested  in  ad- 
vance for  arms  and  ammunition,  and  the  response  was 
prompt.  Captain  Maynard  led  off  with  a  subscription  of 
;^22  los.  old  tenor,  and  eight  others  followed  on  the  spot 
with  smaller  sums.  Dr.  James  Hawes,  Jonathan  Bond, 
and  Capt.  Stephen  Maynard  were  appointed  a  committee 
to  go  to  Concord  and  hear  the  report  of  the  General 
Congress,  —  the  rebel  Congress,  which  General  Gage 
could  not  disband,  —  and  then  the  meeting  adjourned. 

The  whole  town  forthwith  was  full  of  military  ardor. 
The  cannon  and  ammunition  were  purchased  ;  seven  men 
were  appointed  to  learn  how  to  handle  the  field-piece  "  in 
a  warlike  manner,  so  that  they  may  know  how  to  conduct 
and  behave  themselves  if  they  shall  be  wanted  for  our 
defence."  The  town  refused  to  grant  any  extra  bounty  to 
minute-men,  on  the  ground  that  no  more  was  expected  of 
them  than  of  other  men ;  every  man  was  to  be  a  minute 
man,  and  to  do  his  utmost  in  the  common  peril,  —  they 
refused  to  make  invidious  distinctions.  The  old  church 
was  the  rendezvous,  and  in  due  time,  like  the  more  famous 
Old  South  in  Boston,  witnessed  the  rallying  of  armed  men 
within  its  walls,  to  march  for  the  defence  of  liberty. 

At  length,  on  the  19th  of  April,  1775,  the  swift  courier 
brings  to  town  the  call  to  arms.  Lexington  and  Concord 
are  attacked  by  British  troops ;  the  war  has  begun.  There 
is  no  hesitation ;  the  minute-men  are  ready. 

"Swift  as  their  summons  came  they  left 
The  plough  mid-furrow  standing  still. 
The  half-ground  corn  grist  in  the  mill, 
The  spade  in  earth,  the  axe  in  cleft." 

They  are  drawn  up  in  array  at  the  meeting-house;  they 
receive  their  rations  and  arms,  with  a  supply  of  powder. 


IN  THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR. 


163 


bullets,  flints,  and  hatchets,  and  are  off  and  away,  and  ar- 
rive near  Boston  that  same  night  by  way  of  Lexington. 

The   following  is  the   roll  of  the    minute-company,  as 
prepared  by  Edmund  Brigham,  captain,  Nov.  27,  1775 : 


Edmund  Brigham,  Captain. 
Thomas  Bond,  first  Lieut. 
Moses  Wheelock,  second  Lieut. 
Nathan  Townsend,yfrj-/  Searg' 
James  Godfrey,  second        " 
John  Harrington,  third       " 
John  Ball,  fourth  Lieut. 
Joshua  Chamberlain, yfr J-/  Corp. 
Edward  Entwishill,  second    " 
John  Fay,  third  " 

Caleb  HdLvnngton,  fourth      " 
James  GonXd,  first  drummer. 
Richard  Temple,  second  " 
Nathaniel  Chamberlain,  Fifer. 
Amasa  Maynard. 
Thaddeus  Warren. 
Solomon  Maynard. 
Samuel  Thurston. 
James  Bellows. 
Joseph  Bond. 
Eleazer  Wheelock. 
Phineas  Hardy,  Jr. 
Fortunatus  Miller. 


James  Miller,  Jr. 
Benjamin  Ball. 
William  Spring. 
Daniel  Adams,  Jr. 
Joseph  Chamberlain. 
Asahel  Bigelow. 
Henry  Marble. 
Samuel  WilHams. 
Phineas  Brigham. 
Phineas  Gleason,  Jr. 
Joseph  McCulloch. 
Edward  Brigham. 
Barnabas  Brigham. 
Eli  Harrington. 
Samuel  Bellows. 
Amsden  Gale. 
Daniel  Warren,  Jr. 
Breck  Parkman. 
Seth  Brigham. 
Daniel  Hardy,  Jr. 
Simeon  Forbes. 
Benjamin  Whitney. 
John  McCulloch. 


The  muster-roll  in  the  State  Records  gives  the  same  list, 
with  one  exception,  —  it  substitutes  the  name  of  William 
Woods  for  that  of  James  Miller,  Jr.  It  also  gives  the 
following  list  of  members  of  this  minute-company  who 
enlisted  in  the  service  of  the  United  Colonies :  — 


Thos.  Bond,  First  Lieut. 
Moses  Wheelock,  Second  do. 
Jas.  Godfrey,  Searg. 
Joshua  Chamberlain,  '\ 


Richard  Temple,  Drutnmer. 
James  Bellows. 
William  Spring. 
Henry  Marble. 


Edmund  Entwishill,    >•  Corporals.  James  McCulloch, 
John  Fay,  )  Daniel  Hardy,  Jr. 


l64  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Fortunatus  Miller.  Phineas  Brigham. 

William  Woods.  Edward  Brigham. 

Benj.  Ball.  Eleazar  Wheelock. 

Asahel  Bigelow.  John  McCulloch. 

The  shock  of  April  19  woke  up  the  country,  as  at  a 
later  day  did  the  firing  on  Fort  Sumter.  Within  twelve 
days  New  England  put  twenty  thousand  men  around  Bos- 
ton, shutting  the  British  within  the  town ;  and  the  Thir- 
teen Colonies  were  awake  and  ready  for  war.  Some  of  the 
Westborough  men  were  at  Bunker  Hill.  Thirty-two  en- 
listed under  Capt  Moses  Wheelock  for  eight  months,  and 
went  to  Cambridge  and  Dorchester.  Seventeen  more  went 
with  Capt.  Seth  Morse,  in  December,  for  two  months  ;  and 
eighteen,  in  January,  1776,  with  Lieut.  James  Godfrey. 
They  were  in  the  gallant  army  that  surrounded  Boston 
in  the  ensuing  March,  and  saw  from  the  earthworks  on 
Dorchester  Heights  the  evacuation  of  the  city. 

The  British,  driven  from  Boston,  went  by  an  indirect 
route  to  New  York.  General  Washington  was  there  to 
receive  them ;  and  in  his  army  was  Lieut.  James  Godfrey, 
of  Westborough,  with  twenty-two  fellow-townsmen.  It  can 
hardly  be  otherwise  than  that  in  the  defeat  of  the  27th  of 
August  some  of  them  laid  down  their  lives ;  but  there  are 
no  records  left  to  tell  the  tale. 

Meantime  great  events  were  happening.  Massachusetts 
had  already  declared  "  that  the  happiness  of  the  people  is 
the  sole  end  of  government ;  and  the  consent  of  the  peo- 
ple is  the  only  foundation  of  it  in  reason,  morality,  and 
the  natural  fitness  of  things.  And  therefore,  every  act  of 
government,  every  exercise  of  sovereignty,  against  or  with- 
out the  consent  of  the  People,  is  injustice,  usurpation, 
and  Tyranny."  In  accordance  with  this  declaration,  the 
Province    had    renounced    allegiance   to  the   Crown,   and 


IN  THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR.  1 65 

established  a  government  of  its  own,  consisting  of  repre- 
sentatives elected  by  the  people,  and  a  council  chosen  by 
the  assembly ;  which  though  only  a  temporary  expedient, 
adopted  "  until  a  Governor  of  his  Majesty's  appointment 
will  consent  to  govern  the  colony  according  to  its  charter," 
was  a  step  toward  the  final  separation. 

The  Virginia  Convention,  in  June,  1776,  declared:  "All 
men  are  by  nature  equally  free,  and  have  inherent  rights. 
.  .  .  All  power  is  vested  in,  and  consequently  derived  from, 
the  people.  .  .  .  Government  is,  or  ought  to  be,  instituted 
for  the  common  benefit  and  security."  When,  therefore, 
the  Continental  Congress  came  to  the  question  of  inde- 
pendence, it  had  only  to  follow  in  the  line  already  marked 
out  by  the  separate  Colonies.  It  was  inevitable  that  the 
step  should  be  taken  by  all,  having  been  taken  by  each 
in  reality  already.  It  was  taken,  and  the  Colonies  cut 
loose  from  the  Throne. 

Westborough  had  stood  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  the 
other  towns.  It  issued  its  last  town-meeting  w^arrant  in 
His  Majesty's  name  Feb.  13,  1776;  the  next,  of  May  13, 
was  "  in  the  name  of  the  Government  and  People  of 
Massachusetts  Bay."  On  May  24  it  instructed  its  repre- 
sentative to  the  Provincial  Congress,  Capt.  Stephen  May- 
nard,  to  conform  to  a  resolve  of  the  House  concerning 
"  Independentcy,"  in  case  the  Honorable  Congress  should 
judge  it  most  expedient  for  the  safety  and  welfare  of  the 
Colonies.  The  people  knew  that  such  a  course  meant 
war  to  the  bitter  end,  but  they  did  not  flinch.  On  July  2, 
1776,  a  vote  was  passed  that  "  every  man  should  pay  his 
just  proportion  in  supporting  the  war  from  April  ye  19, 
1775,  and  so  forward."  They  would  have  no  shirks.  The 
demands  were  coming  in,  too,  as  fast  as  they  could  meet 
them  with  the  help  of  every  one.     There  were  bounties  to 


1 66  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

pay  to  every  enlisted  soldier,  ranging  from  ^i  to  ;^io.  In 
April,  as  we  have  seen,  they  had  purchased  a  cannon  and 
munitions  of  war,  and  sent  provisions  to  Lexington  and 
Cambridge.  In  May  requisition  was  made  for  breadstufifs, 
and  twice  in  the  same  month  for  blankets.  In  June  the 
Provincial  Congress  called  for  thirteen  thousand  coats,  o 
which  Westborough's  proportion  was  forty-eight.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1776,  came  another  call  for  blankets,  which  in  those 
days  were  not  turned  off  by  the  hundred  in  shoddy  mills, 
but  spun  and  woven  by  the  women.  These  continued  calls 
strained  the  endurance  of  the  people  to  the  utmost.  The 
payment  of  bounties  soon  became  very  onerous.  Dec.  30, 
1776,  the  town  voted,  in  a  fit  of  desperation,  "to  stop 
raising  soldiers  by  a  tax ;  and  to  receive  back  money  from 
any  who  chose  to  return  it."  And  evidently  there  were 
some  who  did  so ;  for  in  the  following  March,  when  the 
continued  demand  forced  the  town  to  levy  another  bounty 
tax,  and  a  bounty  of  ^30  was  voted  to  three  years  men,  those 
who  had  before  paid  back  their  money  received  it  again. 

There  were  also  special  calls  from  time  to  time,  of  which 
we  have  a  hint  in  the  taking  of  a  collection  in  church.  May 
18,  1777,  "for  Samuel  Goodnow,  of  Elizabeth  town,  in  ye 
Jersies,  driven  out  of  his  home  by  Regulars ;  "  and  another 
in  April,  1778,  "  for  John  Forbes,  driven  off  by  ye  enemy 
at  Otter  Creek."  In  September,  1779,  there  was  a  call 
for  relief  for  Boston,  asking  for  beef,  cattle,  sheep,  butter, 
cheese,  and  rye,  and  Indian  meal ;  but  the  largest  demand 
recorded  at  any  one  time  came  in  January,  1778,  when 
the  town  voted  to  pay  its  share  of  ^^"400,000,  to  be  put 
on  loan  by  the  State,  which  amounted  to  ^1,204. 

Of  course  there  were  then,  as  always,  those  who  tried 
to  take  advantage  of  the  demand  created  by  the  war  to 
obtain  an  increase  of  wages  and  profits  out  of  the  strug- 


IN  THE   REVOLUTIONARY   WAR. 


167 


gles  of  the  patriots.  The  country  could  not  stand  that 
strain  then  as  well  as  it  could  afterward  in  the  war  of 
1861  ;  and  the  effort  was  made  to  regulate  prices,  which, 
whether  successful  or  not,  is  interesting  to  the  student  of 
the  history  of  economics,  and  also  throws  a  good  deal  of 
light  on  the  occupations  and  customs  of  our  fathers. 

In  February,  1777,  Westborough  adopted  the  following 
list:  — 


Price  of  da}'  labor  in  January  and  February  . 

"         "  in  April 

"        "  May  to  June  15    .     .     . 

"         "  June  15  to  Aug.  15  .     . 

"        "  Aug.  15  through  Sept.  . 

"        "         in  Oct 

"         "  in  Nov,  and  Dec.     .     .     . 

For  a  carpenter  who  is  a  workman  at  the  trade 
For  the  best  half  of  the  year      .... 

For  the  rest  of  the  year 

Bedstead  of  maple 

A  good  stubble  plough  well  made     .... 

For  a  good  Wrake 

For  a  plain  setting  chair,  made  of  maple  and  bottomed, 

For  botaming  a  chair  with  flags 

For  making  a  pair  of  cart  wheels  of  good  timber    .  £1  los. 
For  a  shoemaker  making  a  pair  of  men's  or  wo- 
men's shoes,  finding  thread  and  heels  as  usual 
For  a  pair  of  good  shoes  for  a  man,  made  of  good 

neat's  leather 

And  other  shoes  in  proportion,  according  to  their 

Bigness  and  Goodness. 

For  a  Blacksmith  shoeing  a  horse  all  round,  with 

shoes  well  steeled,  toe  and  heel     .... 

And  for  shoeing  all  round  without  steel     .     . 

And  for  setting  a  shoe 

Good  walnut  wood  per  cord 

Good  oak  wood  "         

Good  swamp  wood       " 

All  delivered  at  the  door. 
For  a  doctor's  journey,  7s.  per  mile,  and  other  articles 
in  proportion,  according  to  the  cost  of  medicines. 


IS.  6ci.  a  day. 

2S.  " 

2s.  4d.     " 

IS.  10^.  " 

IS.  6d.     '« 


6d. 
Sd. 


2S. 

6s 
6s. 

IS.   2d. 

3J.  4d. 

9d 


3s. 


7s.  6d. 


\d. 
4d. 


6s. 
4s. 

ys. 
6s. 
Ss.  4d. 


1 68  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Good  wheat,  per  bushel 6s.  8d. 

Good  rye 4^^.  ^d. 

Good  Indian  corn 3j-.  zd. 

Good  oats 2s. 

Good  potatoes,  per  bush,  in  ye  fall  of  ye  year  ...  is. 

At  other  seasons  of  ye  year is.  4d. 

Good  grass-fed  beef 2\d.  lb. 

Good  stall-fed  beef      . 31^.   " 

Good  lump  butter p^.     « 

New  milk  by  grass il^.  qt. 

hay i^d.    " 

Good  tobacco 6d.    lb. 

For  good  Cyder  in  fall  of  the  year 3s.  ^.d.    bbl. 

"         "  in  spring  and  summer        .     ...  6s.  " 

For  a  Tavern  keeper  pr.  mug  for  Cyder       ....  2^d. 

For  a  meal  of  Vitials  of  the  best  quality      ....  is.      pr.  meal. 

For  their  common  Vitials 8d.   " 

For  a  mug  of  flip,  made  of  W.  I.  Rum 10^. 

For  New  England  flip 8d. 

For  boarding  a  man  pr.  week 4s.  ^d. 

For  boarding  a  woman 2s.  8d. 

For  spinning  4  skein  yarn,  14  knots  in  a  skein     .     .  4^.    pr.  sk. 

For  spinning  good  woolen  warp,  7  knots  in  a  skein     .  2^d.  pr.  sk. 

For  weaving  4  skein  yarn,  yd.  wide 3^^.  pr.  yd. 

Good  yard  wide  tow  cloth 2s.  3d.   pr.  yd. 

It  is  evidence  that  this  attempt  to  regulate  prices  did 
not  altogether  succeed  that  in  the  following  June  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  "  to  prevent  monopolizing  and  op- 
pression, according  to  an  act  of  this  State ;  Amasa  May- 
nard  to  be  the  person  for  this  town  to  obtain  evidence 
against  any  person  who  is  inimical  to  this  State,  or  any 
of  the  United  States  of  America,  and  lay  the  same  before 
the  Court  of  the  State  in  order  to  try  the  same." 

But  the  inevitable  tendency  of  things  could  not  thus  be 
stayed;  and  three  years  later,  such  was  the  depreciation 
of  the  currency  that  corn  was  worth  about  fifty  dollars  a 
bushel,  and  beef  four  dollars  a  pound.  What  this  meant 
to  the    people,  burdened  already  beyond   endurance,  we 


IN  THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR.  1 69 

at  this  day  cannot  realize.  That  amid  it  all  they  did  not 
surrender  their  liberties,  stamps  them  as  men  who  were 
worthy  to  win  great  things  for  posterity. 

Meantime  the  enlistments  were  taking  the  able-bodied 
men  away  from  the  town,  until  it  must  have  seemed  a 
lonely  place.  In  August,  1776,  six  men  went  to  Dorches- 
ter, and  six  more  to  Canada  with  Lieut.  Thomas  Bond. 
In  September  nineteen  more  went  to  Horseneck  with 
Capt.  Seth  Morse,  the  town  having  drafted  every  fifth 
man,  with  a  bounty  of  ^2,  in  order  to  secure  the  quota. 
In  November  seventeen  went  to  New  Jersey  with  Lieut. 
James  Bowman  for  three  months,  where  General  Wash- 
ington was  in  retreat  before  Howe.  In  1777  Lieut.  Nathan 
Townsend,  with  seven  men,  went  to  Providence ;  and  in 
August  of  the  same  year  Capt.  Edmund  Brigham  took 
eighteen  to  the  Northern  Army.  Already,  on  the  17th 
of  July,  seventeen  had  gone  with  Lieut.  Levi  Warren  to 
Bennington,  where,  in  August,  Burgoyne  was  defeated  by 
General  Stark ;  and  sixteen  others  went  on  a  sudden  sum- 
mons with  Lieutenant  Grout,  in  September,  to  share  in 
the  victory  of  General  Gates,  when  Burgoyne  surrendered 
at  Saratoga. 

And  so  it  went  on  for  six  years.  The  bounty-list  is  a 
very  suggestive  document,  and  summarizes  the  work  of 
the  whole  period.     It  is  here  subjoined. 

A  Memorandum  of  what  the  town  gave  each  man  in  the  present 
War,  since  the  Nineteenth  of  April,  1775. 

1775- 

32  men  that  went  to  Cambridge   and   Dor- 
chester, with    Capt.    Moses    Wheelock,         L       s.    d. 
eight  months,  ^4  each  man 128     o     o 

Dec.  17  men  that  went  to  Dorchester  with  Capt. 

Seth  Morse,  for  two  months,  ;^ I  each.     .         17     o    o 


170  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

1776. 

Jan.  20.       18  men  that  went  to  Dorchester  with  Lieut.  £     *•    d. 

James  Godfrey,  for  two  months,  ^i  each  18     o    o 

"  7  men  hired  by  the  town  for  one  year,  to  go 

into  the  Continental  service  in  Col.  Ward's 

regiment,  £\  each 28    o    o 

June  24.      22  men  that  went  to  New  York  with  Lieut. 

James  Godfrey,  at  £()  each 198    o    o 

Aug.  19.        6  men  to  Dorchester  as  guards,  ^3  each     .  1800 

"  6  men  that  went  to  Canada  with  Lt.  Thomas 

Bond,  at  £\o  each 60    o    o 

Sept.  10.     19  men  that  went  to  Horse-neck  with  Capt. 

Seth  Morse,  at  £i,  each 76    o    o 

Nov.  19.      19  men  that  went  to  the  Jerseys  with  Lieut. 

James  Bowman,  for  three  months,  at  £^  8 

each  man 102     2     o 

[July  26,  1776.  Voted   to  pay  those  men   that  went   to 

Dorchester  ;^3  each  man  ;  4  men]  ...  12    o    o 

1777- 

April  12.       7  men  that  went  with  Lt.  Nathan  Townsend 

to  Providence,  ^4  16  each  man    ....  33  12    o 

July  27.       17  men  that  went  with  Lt.  Levi  Warren  to 

Bennington,  ;^6  9  each 109  13     o 

"  27  men  on  alarm  to  Hadley,  ;iri  16  each  .     .  48  14     o 

August.       18  men  that  went  with  Capt.  Edmund  Brig- 
ham  to  the  northward,  ^9  each  ....        162     o     o 
"  6  men  that  ware  raised  for  eight  months  to 

fill  up  the  Continental  army,  ;^22  each  man        132     o    o 
Sept.  16.      4  men  that  went  to  Rode  Island,  £\i  each         48    o    o 
"  16  men  that  went  on  Alarm,  when  Burgine 

was  taken,  with  Lt.  Grout,  /3  per  man     .         48     o     o 
Dec.  22.        4  men  that  went  to  Rhode  Island   ....         24    o    o 

1778. 

Feb.  7.        10  men  that  went  to  Roxbury,  ^'j  each     .    .         70    o    o 

April  20.       6  men  for  nine  months,  to  fill  up  the  Conti- 
nental Army,  ;^  140  each      840     0     o 

"  7  men  for  eight  months,  to  reinforce   the 

Continental  Army,  /90 630     o     o 

June  12.        8  men  for  six  months,  to  reinforce  the  Con- 
tinental Army,  ;i^  155  each  1240    o    o 


IN  THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR.  I7I 

June  18.      15  men  that  went  to  Rhode  Island  by  order  {,      s.   a. 

of  Council,  ^18  each  man 270     o     o 

"    23.         4  men  that  went  to  Rutland,  to  guard  the 

Convention  troops,  ;^8o  each  man  .     .     .        320     o     o 
July  24.         4  men  that  went  to  Rhode  Island,;^ 60  each 

man 240     o    o 

"  27.        13  men  that  went  to  Rhode  Island,  to  rein- 
force Gen.  Sullivan,  ;^7o  each  man     .     .       910    o    o 
Sept.  6.         6  men  to  Rhode  Island,  at  £7$  each  .     .     .       450    o    o 
"    17.        8  men  to  serve  in  and  about  Boston,  £go 

each  man 720     o     o 

1779. 

Jan.  9  men  to  serve  in  and  about  Boston,  ^60 

each  man 540    o    o 

Feb.  26.  •     4  men  to  go  to  Rhode  Island,  ;^90  each  man,        360    o    o 

June  8.  2  men  to  Rutland,  ^80  each 160     o     o 

"  16.         4  men  to  guard  at  Rutland,  ^120  each  man,        480     o    o 
"  8.  5  men  to  Reinforce  the  Continental  men  for 

nine  months,  ;^6oo  each 3000     0     o 

Sept.  17.       3  men  to  man  the  works  in  and  about  Boston, 

;^5o  each  man 150     o     o 

Oct.  9.         10  men  to  Reinforce  the  Continental  Army, 

for  three  months,  ;^ 1 50  each 1500    o    o 

1780. 

Jan.  22.       14  men  to  Reinforce  the  Continental  Army, 

;i^ 1 270  each  man 17780     o     o 

The  bounties,  which  began  with  £4.  per  man,  and 
reached  at  last  the  astounding  figure  of  ^1,270,  illustrate 
in  the  most  striking  way  the  depreciation  of  the  currency 
as  the  struggle  drew  toward  its  close.  The  difference  is 
not  so  much  in  the  amount  granted  as  in  the  value  of 
the  money  in  which  it  was  paid. 

The  following  table  shows  the  amount  granted  each 
year,  and  the  number  of  enlistments.  Of  course  many 
of  these  were  re-enlistments,  and  it  is  not  certain  that  the 
men  all  belonged  in  Westborough ;  but  that  a  little  town 
of  less  than  one  thousand  inhabitants  should  enlist  three 
hundred  and  eighty-one  men  in  six  years  shows  how  the 


172 


EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 


necessities  of  the  war   drained   the   population,   and   how 
desperately  the  men  of  that  day  fought  their  struggle. 


£. 

s. 

In  1775 

bounties 

were 

paid 

to 

49  men. 

Whole  amount 

145 

0 

«    1776 

" 

lOI       " 

512 

2 

"    1777 

(( 

99    " 

605 

19 

«    177S 

u. 

81     " 

5,690 

0 

"'  1779 

(. 

37     " 

6,190 

0 

"    17S0 

if 

14     " 

17,780 

0 

Whole  number 


381 


Amount 


^30.923     o 


To  this  really  noble  record  we  must  add,  in  our  mental 
estimate,  the  thousand  things  that  are  only  hinted  at  in 
any  public  documents :  the  prompt  and  brave  responses 
of  the  "  Home  Guard,"  —  fathers  and  mothers  and  sisters, 
who  bore  poverty  and  bereavement,  and  wrought  patrioti- 
cally with  fingers  and  spinning-wheels  and  looms  to  keep 
the  army  clothed  and  fed.  Calls  for  supplies  were  inces- 
sant. Blankets,  coats,  stockings,  shoes,  were  continually 
sent  in  answer  to  calls.  Before  the  close  of  the  war  the 
suffering  from  lack  of  supplies  became  greater  than  from 
the  enemy's  bullets.  There  are  two  scraps  of  paper  in 
the  town  archives  that  one  does  not  read  without  a  quick- 
ening of  the  pulse  :  they  are  only  receipts  for  blankets, 
signed  by  Samuel  Danforth  and  Henry  Marble ;  but  they 
were  signed  in  the  camp  at  Valley  Forge,  in  that  terrible 
winter  whose  record  of  suffering  is  among  the  most  trying 
episodes  of  the  long  war. 

This  last-named  soldier  was  one  of  those  who  "  enlisted 
for  the  war  or  for  life,"  and  saw  with  his  own  eyes  the 
principal  events  in  the  eight  years'  struggle.  Thirty-five 
years  later  he  put  on  record  the  simple  outline  of  his 
share  in  the  scenes  which  at  that  time  only  the  old  men 
remembered,  as  follows :  — 


IN  THE   REVOLUTIONARY  WAR.  1 73 

Statement  of  the  Services  of  Henry  Marble,  late  a  lieutmant  in 
the  Continental  Army^  commanded  by  the  illustrious  George 
Washington,  Esq. 

On  the  19th  day  of  April,  1775,  I  marched  from  the  town  of 
Westborough,  state  of  Massachusetts,  34  miles  from  Boston,  on 
the  first  alarm  of  war,  and  arrived  near  Boston  the  same  day,  by 
the  way  of  Lexington,  where  the  first  blood  was  shed.  I  enlisted 
soon  for  eight  months  into  a  regiment  commanded  by  Jona.  Ward, 
Esq.     On  the  17th  of  June  I  was  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 

1776.  I  was  two  months  with  the  army  on  the  heights  at 
Dorchester,  south  of  Boston,  and  saw  the  British  evacuate  the 
town,  blow  up  the  castle,  etc.  I  then  enlisted  soon  after,  as 
corporal,  into  a  regiment  commanded  by  a  Colonel  Smith,  and 
marched  to  New  York.  I  was  on  the  city  guards  the  day  that 
the  enemy  took  the  place,  and  underwent  all  the  fatigues  of 
that  campaign  ;  was  in  the  battle  of  White  Plains. 

1777.  I  enlisted  for  three  years  in  the  15th  Mass.  Regiment, 
ist  company,  as  sargeant ;  joined  the  northern  army;  was  pre- 
sent at  the  taking  of  Burgoyne,  and  the  battles  that  preceded  it ; 
then  marched  to  the  south,  and  joined  the  army  in  Pennsyl- 
vania, cantoned  at  Valley  Forge. 

1778.  In  June  marched  in  pursuit  of  the  enemy,  who  had 
left  Philadelphia  ;  on  the  28th  overtook  them  at  Monmouth  ; 
had  a  severe  action.  In  the  month  of  July  the  Brigade  to  which 
I  belonged,  commanded  by  Gen.  Glover,  was  ordered  to  Rhode 
Island,  to  join  the  army  under  command  of  Gen.  Sullivan.  Was 
in  all  the  hazard  and  fatigue  of  a  seige  against  the  town  of 
Newport ;  but  failing  in  the  expedition,  made  a  safe  retreat,  and 
took  winter  quarters  in  the  town  of  Providence.  In  the  month 
of  November  I  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of  ensign. 

1779.  On  the  28th  of  June  I  was  promoted  to  the  rank  of 
Lieutenant.  On  the  i  ith  of  July  was  marched  to  New  York,  and 
joined  the  army  on  the  banks  of  the  Hudson,  cantoned  near 
Fishkill. 

1780.  The  number  of  regiments  was  reduced  to  that  of  ten 
in  the  Massachusetts  line ;  and  I  was  incorporated  into  the  5th 
Regiment,  commanded  by  Rufus  Putnam  ;  soon  after  which  I 


174  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

was  appointed  adjutant  of  said  regiment,  and  so  continued  to 
the  close  of  the  war  in   1783. 

The  foregoing  is  a  true  statement  of  facts  according  to  the 
best  of  my  knowledge. 

{Signed)  Henry  Marble, 

Late  a  Lieutenant  and  Adjutant  in  the  Revolutionary 
A  rnty  of  tlie  United  States  of  A  merica. 

Dated  at  Montgomery  this  first  day  of  March,  i8i8,  and  forty-third  of  the 
Independence  of  the  United  States. 

Meantime  the  town  kept  its  interest  awake  and  active  in 
regard  to  the  political  progress  of  the  States.  The  Decla- 
ration of  Independence  was  received,  and  recorded  in  the 
town  records  Sept.  16,  1776.  The  action  of  the  Conti- 
nental Congress  was  fully  accepted  by  the  people  of  the 
town,  and  held  as  binding  upon  them  in  all  subsequent 
action.  The  effort  to  devise  a  Constitution  for  Massa- 
chusetts was  scanned  with  jealous  earnestness,  lest  it 
should  not  fully  secure  the  rights  of  the  towns.  In  De- 
cember, 1776,  the  town  refused  to  consent  to  the  fram- 
ing of  a  Constitution  of  Government  by  the  Council  and 
House  of  Representatives  then  sitting,  according  to  the 
Resolve  of  the  General  Assembly  of  September  17th;  and 
in  order  to  enforce  their  unwillingness,  they  refused  to 
send  another  representative  to  the  General  Assembly. 
Again,  in  the  May  following  they  voted  "  not  to  give  our 
consent  that  our  Representative  should  have  any  hand  in 
forming  a  Constitution  of  Government  till  there  can  be 
an  alteration  in  the  present  form  of  representation,"  In 
March,  1778,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  peruse  the 
Constitution  devised  by  the  General  Court,  which  had 
proceeded  to  the  task  in  spite  of  the  town's  vigorous 
protest.  There  is  no  report  of  the  committee  recorded ; 
but  in  May  it  came  before  the  town,  and  received  one 
affirmative  vote  against  sixty-five  in  the  negative. 


IN  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR.  1 75 

The  next  year  the  representative  was  instructed  to  vote 
for  a  State  convention,  to  form  a  new  Constitution.  When 
in  the  next  autumn  such  a  convention  was  to  meet  at 
Concord,  Capt.  Nathan  Fisher  was  appointed  delegate, 
with  the  following  instructions :  — 

"  I.  The  people  must  have  power  to  instruct  their  representative. 

"  2.  There  must  be  a  prefatory  bill  of  rights. 

"3.  No  one  branch  of  the  legislature  must  have  the  power  of 
negative  over  the  other. 

"  4.  A  printed  copy  of  the  constitution  agreed  upon  must  be 
immediately  sent  to  the  towns,  that  they  may  vote  on  it. 

"  5.  The  convention  is  then  to  adjourn,  in  order  to  hear  from 
the  towns. 

"  6.  The  constitution  to  be  adopted  by  a  two-thirds  majority 
of  the  voters  of  the  towns." 

So,  vigilant  for  their  rights,  and  ready  to  defend  them, 
whether  in  council  or  on  the  battle-field,  our  fathers  carried 
the  town  through  the  great  crisis  in  a  manner  of  which 
there  is  no  occasion  to  be  ashamed.  Westborough's  his- 
tory in  the  Revolution  is  a  good  one ;  if  not  specially 
conspicuous,  yet  indicative  of  the  sturdy  independence  and 
heroic  sacrifice  which  helped  to  make  the  newly  born 
nation  a  success. 


CHAPTER   XIII. 

1775-1782. 

CONTEMPORARY  MATTERS  OF  LOCAL  INTEREST.  —  DIS- 
CUSSION OF  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT.  —  DEATH  OF 
MR.    PARKMAN. 

"TNURING  the  eventful  years  of  the  Revolution,  while 
public  affairs  absorbed  the  attention  and  called  the 
sturdiest  actors  to  other  scenes,  there  were  also  some  oc- 
currences of  no  small  local  interest  in  town  and  church. 

The  temper  of  mind  which  made  men  unwilling  to 
brook  despotic  authority  in  the  State,  produced  natu- 
rally a  like  independence  in  matters  ecclesiastical.  In- 
deed, since  the  movement  began  with  a  struggle  for 
religious  liberty,  it  would  not  be  strange  if  the  people 
were  especially  sensitive  in  regard  to  their  rights  in  the 
church.  Puritanism  had  broken  away  from  bishop  and 
prelate ;  it  had  set  up  the  Scriptures  as  the  only  rule  of 
faith  and  practice  ;  but  it  had  not  yet  established  the 
doctrine  —  though  it  was  even  then  in  its  birth-throes  — 
of  the  supreme  authority,  within  its  own  domain,  of  the 
local  body  of  believers.  There  were  remains  of  priestly 
power  still  lingering  in  practice;  the  minister  was  a  po- 
tentate of  no  small  significance ;  his  will  was  usually  law, 
and  all  opposition  had  to  stand  the  fire  of  his  unsparing 
condemnation.  Above  all  the  rest  of  his  prerogatives 
stood  that  of  the  veto,  —  the  right  absolutely  to  reject  a 
decision  of  the  church  if  it  did  not  suit  his  views.     In 


DISCUSSION  OF  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT.  1 77 

1774  the  Ministerial  Association  of  this  vicinity  had  made 
a  deliverance  on  this  point, — which  had  come  to  be  a 
rather  sensitive  one,  —  asserting  the  right  of  the  veto, 
and  designating  a  certain  book  as  the  standard  of  eccle- 
siastical law.  There  were  those  in  the  Westborough 
church  who  did  not  relish  the  assumptions  of  this  paper, 
and  eleven  of  the  brethren  had  signed  a  protest  against 
it.  This  protest  was  brought  before  the  church  at  a 
meeting  held  the  first  day  of  January,  1775,  and  the  ven- 
erable pastor,  now  seventy-one  years  old,  and  more  than 
fifty  years  in  this  pastorate,  made  an  address  on  the  sub- 
ject. He  urged  "ye  Unscasonableness  of  Disputes  of  this 
Nature  at  so  distressing  a  time  of  pubHc  calamity;  the 
Impropriety  and  Danger  of  arraigning  such  a  Body  of 
eminent  and  learned  men  as  the  Ve7terable  Convention, 
and  condsmning  them  who  were  verily  ye  Defenders  of  ye 
Congregational  Plan,  and  therefore  not  desiring  to  have 
Solemn  Testimony  borne  against  them."  After  some 
debate,  this  meeting  adjourned  for  two  weeks. 

At  the  adjourned  meeting  the  matter  was  again  taken 
up.  The  pastor  and  some  others  desired  to  have  the 
matter  dropped,  but  the  original  movers  were  persistent. 
It  was  then  proposed  to  reach  the  heart  of  the  matter 
under  discussion  by  passing  resolutions  on  the  subject 
without  reference  to  the  Association  ;  but  that  was  not 
satisfactory,  and  the  meeting  adjourned.  On  the  fourth 
of  April  the  matter  came  up  again,  and  two  papers  were 
presented  ;  but  being  roughly  drawn  up,  they  failed  to 
secure  action,  and  another  adjournment  was  made  for 
three  weeks.  This  meeting  was  broken  up  by  an  alarm 
to  march  against  the  "  regulars ;  "  but  another  was  notified 
a  month  later,  —  May  23. 

At  that  time  a  paper  was  presented,  signed  by  fifteen 


178  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

members,    of   whom    nine   were   of    the    original    eleven 
memorialists,  which  contained  the  following  articles: 

"  I.  To  see  if  it  is  the  mind  of  this  church  that  the  Book 
called  'Observations  upon  the  Congregational  Plan  of  Church 
Government'  be  such  in  their  opinion  as  they  are  willing  to 
receive  as  a  Rule  to  be  governed  by,  when  we  do  not  know 
that  this  church  or  any  other  church  had  any  hand  in  co7Jiposing 
the  same." 

In  regard  to  this  article,  Mr.  Parkman  records, — 
"  Among  the  brethren  it  passed  in  the  negative,  the  pas- 
tor observing  that  he  did  not  conceive  it  was  expected 
so  high  a  regard  should  be  paid  to  it  as  to  make  it  a 
Rule  or  Standard, — what  was  of  Divine  inspiration  being 
our  only  rule  in  that  sense;  nor  is  it  imposed,  but  ye 
contrary." 

"  2.  To  see  if  it  is  agreeable  to  the  minds  of  the  brethren  of 
this  church  to  break  communion  with  any  other  church  before 
admonition  be  given." 

To  this  a  negative  vote  was  given  ;  the  pastor,  how- 
ever, again  differing  from  his  church  to  this  extent  : 
that  "when  there  is,  with  persons  or  with  a  church, 
matter  of  scandal,  division,  etc.,  and  the  cause  is  depend- 
ing, it  is  unfit  that  either  party  should  offer  themselves 
to  the  communion  of  other  churches." 

"3.  To  see  if  it  is  ye  opinion  of  this  church  that  a  pastor 
of  a  Congregational  church  has  a  legal  right  and  authority  to 
negative  and  make  void  the  votes  which  such  a  church  shall 
see  cause  to  pass." 

This  also  was  decided  in  the  negative  ;  and  this  was 
really  the  point  about  which  feeling  centred.  It  was 
the  point  on  which  there  had  come  to  be  a  serious  dif- 
ference of  opinion  between  the  old-fashioned  pastor  and 


DISCUSSION  OF  CHURCH  GOVERNMENT.  1 79 

his  flock.  Mr.  Parkman  replied  to  this  last  vote  at  con- 
siderable length,  quoting  synods  and  Fathers  and  author- 
ities numberless  in  defence  of  his  privilege  of  veto,  and 
concluding  with  a  notable  use  of  the  privilege  itself,  in 
face  of  the  vote  of  the  church,  as  follows  (I  quote  from 
his  own  record)  :  — 

"  The  Pastor,  therefore,  professing  himself  Congregational,  & 
this  Church  having  been  settled  upon  that  plan,  &  hitherto  con- 
tinued [now  fifty  years]  a  Congregational  Church,  agreeable  to 
ye  Sacred  Scriptures,  the  Church  Covenant,  the  Platform  afore- 
said for  ye  substance  of  it,  the  other  writings  of  ye  worthy 
Fathers  who  compiled  it,  with  those  also  who  have  writ  since 
in  Defense  of  it,  and  ye  general  Practice  in  these  Churches, 
did  not  Consent  to  the  vote,  but  insisted  that,  in  Conformity  to 
our  B.  Lord  &  Sav''  Mind  &  Direction,  there  must  be  in  Church 
acts  an  agreement,  that  is,  of  both  the  Elders  and  the  Fraternity. 
For  this  he  says  Expressly  in  Afat.  18:  'Whatsoever  ye  shall 
bind  on  Earth,'  etc.,  and  then  immediately  follow  the  words  in 
ye  19th  Ch.,  '  if  you  shall  agree  on  earth,'  etc.  Hence  renowned 
Expositors  say,  '  Quod  litigat,  non  ligat.'  " 

Nothing  could  be  simpler  than  this  solution  of  the 
difficulty,  —  there  vntst  be  an  agreement.  The  church 
did  not  wish  to  side  with  the  pastor,  but  the  pastor 
ivo2ild  not  agree  with  the  church ;  therefore  the  church 
must  yield,  —  and  it  did,  seeing  there  was  no  help  for 
it.  There  was  a  hasty  adjournment  at  the  close  of  the 
pastor's  address,  and  there  is  no  further  record  on  the 
subject;  but  the  pastor  never  yielded  his  right  of  veto. 
The  church,  out  of  veneration  for  their  old  pastor,  kept 
silence  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  but  took  care  to 
have  an  understanding  on  the  subject  with  future  candi- 
dates before  installation. 

It  is  a  singular  circumstance  that  in  the  midst  of  the 
sore  burdens  and  distresses  of  the  war,  when  taxes  were 


l80  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

enormous,  and  calls  for  supplies  incessant,  the  first  mis- 
sionary collection  ever  recorded  from  the  church  was 
raised.  On  the  22d  of  September,  1776,  two  men  of 
mark  appeared  in  the  pulpit  of  the  Westborough  church, 
—  the  Rev.  Ezra  Stiles,  D.D.,  two  years  later  to  be  elected 
president  of  Yale  College,  and  then  pastor  at  Newport; 
and  the  Rev.  Samuel  Hopkins,  soon  to  be  famous  as  the 
author  of  a  new  doctrinal  system,  and  destined  to  be 
more  popularly  known  as  the  hero  of  Mrs.  Stowe's  "  Min- 
ister's Wooing."  These  men  were  making  something  of 
a  stir  in  their  opposition  to  slavery  and  their  sympathy 
for  the  negro.  Hopkins  was  afterward  the  means  of  se- 
curing emancipation  in  Rhode  Island.  At  this  time  they 
were  making  a  tour  of  the  churches  in  the  interest  of  an 
African  mission.  Newport,  where  their  pastorates  lay, 
was  in  the  hands  of  the  British,  and  for  the  time  they 
were  forced  to  retire.  Hopkins  was  greatly  interested  in 
a  scheme,  which  he  had  originated,  to  send  some  of  the 
negroes,  who  had  been  brought  here  as  slaves,  back  to 
Africa,  to  begin  a  work  of  civilization  and  evangelization 
there.  So  it  happened  that  on  this  Sunday  the  two 
preachers  came  together  to  Westborough.  The  cause 
was  a  new  one,  —  it  savored  of  romance  as  well  as  of 
piety ;  and  so,  in  spite  of  the  pressure  of  the  time,  there 
was  a  goodly  response  to  their  appeal.  Mr.  Parkman 
thus  chronicles  their  visit :  — 

"  A  contribution  was  made  in  compliance  with  an  address  of 
Rev.  Dr.  Stiles  and  Mr.  Hopkins,  of  Newport,  for  ye  Support 
and  Encouragement  of  Missionarys  to  Annamabo  in  Africa.  It 
amounted  to  £4.  7.  10,  &  by  Additions  afterward  to  ^4.  12,  lawful 
money  :  which  may  God  graciously  accept  through  Jesus  Christ !  " 

It  is  less  agreeable  to  note  that  the  town  did  not  sup- 
ply the  needs  of  its  own  venerable  pastor   at  this   time 


MR.  parkman's  appeal.  i8i 

with  equal  alacrity.  He  was  now  seventy-three  years  old, 
and  his  salary,  always  meagre,  was  rendered  quite  inad- 
equate by  the  depreciation  of  the  currency.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1776,  he  was  obliged  to  make  an  appeal  to  the  town 
to  furnish  his  firewood.  This  had  been  a  matter  of  dis- 
pute, more  or  less,  during  his  ministry.  It  might  not 
seem  a  large  item  to  us,  but  we  have  to  remember  that 
the  family  of  this  pioneer  minister  was  numerous.  Six- 
teen children  had  been  born  into  it  in  all,  of  whom  thir- 
teen were  living,  —  not  all  in  the  old  home,  of  course, 
for  some  of  them  had  homes  of  their  own,  and  at  least 
two  of  his  sons  were  in  the  army.  Yet  the  old  house 
was  far  from  empty.  Moreover,  the  fireplace  of  those 
days  was  no  dainty  modern  grate,  and  its  demands  were 
not  to  be  despised.  The  annual  allowance  of  wood  for 
Mr.  Parkman,  when  the  town  furnished  it,  was  ordina- 
rily thirty-five  cords,  and  one  year  forty  cords ;  and  the 
estimated  cost  of  it  as  the  value  of  money  decreased, 
was,  in  1777,  ^42;  in  1778,  £6<^',  and  in  1780,  ;^450. 
This  latter  year  his  salary  besides  was  ;^4000,  —  which 
did  not  equal  in  purchasing  power  the  ;^8o  of  his  origi- 
nal settlement ;  for  corn  was  $50  a  bushel,  and  rye  $70 ; 
beef  $400  a  cwt.,  and  sole-leather  $22  a  pound.  So  the 
petition  for  his  firewood  has  some  reason  in  it,  and  it  is 
a  touching  revelation  of  the  man  and  the  time.  It  reads 
as  follows :  — 

Westborough,  Decemb^"'  ye  2,  1776. 
To  the  town  at  their  meeting  by  adjour7i77ient  this  day : 

Gentelmen,  —  This  is  to  manifest  my  very  hearty  sympathy 
with  you  in  the  common  Distresses  and  grievous  Burdens  of  the 
present  Dark  Day :  that  I  have  fully  performed,  according  to 
my  utmost  ability,  all  such  duty  as  has  been  requested  of  me 
in  my  office,  agreeably  to  my  age  and  circumstances,  so  that  I 


1 82  EARLY  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

have  not  knowingly  given  offence  to  any  person  ;  and  I  am  still 
ready  to  do  and  to  bear,  as  God  shall  assist  me,  whatever  may 
be  in  any  Reason  desired  of  me.  I  rely  upon  your  justice  and 
honor  to  afford  me  subsistence  in  your  service,  as  is  in  all  equity 
to  be  expected.  But  my  brethren,  the  article  of  getting  my  ivood 
is  utterly  beyond  my  power,  and  you  was  sensible  of  this  from 
the  beginning,  and  you  gave  me  reason  to  depend  on  you  for  it. 
It  is  plain  I  must  unavoidably  suffer  unless  you  will  show  so 
much  compassion  as  to  help  me.  I  don't  insist  at  all  upon  the 
manner  of  your  doing  it,  so  it  be  but  just  and  equal  and  answer 
the  end  \  whatever  you  do  about  other  things,  there  is  neces- 
sity of  getting  the  Wood,,  or  your  own  selves  and  Familys  will 
suffer  loss. 

I  am,  yours  Affectionately, 

E.  Parkman. 

The  town  should  never  have  suffered  such  an  appeal 
to  be  necessary.  After  fifty-two  years  of  willing  service, 
as  his  strength  failed,  he  should  have  found  a  hundred 
hands  to  help  in  any  need  that  beset  him ;  but  "  repub- 
hcs  are  ungrateful,"  and  so,  more  to  their  shame,  are 
parishes  sometimes.  The  remembrance  of  the  past  goes 
for  little  when,  for  any  reason,  those  services  can  be  no 
longer  rendered.  The  year  following  the  town  did  better, 
and  also  in  1778  and  1779.  In  1780,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  depreciation  of  the  currency  was  greatest,  and  the 
appropriations  were  munificent  in  appearance,  though 
small  enough  in  reality. 

These  were  the  darkest  days ;  and  singularly,  as  though 
Nature  herself  felt  a  throb  of  sympathy  for  her  brave 
and  suffering  children,  on  the  19th  of  May  came  the 
"  dark  day "  of  which  men  and  women  spoke  with  bated 
breath  for  half  a  century  afterward.  Dr.  Jeremy  Bel- 
knap, of  Boston,  has  left  a  good  description  of  it  in  a 
letter  to  a  friend.     There  had  been  some  thunder  in  the 


THE  "DARK  DAY."  1 83 

morning,  and  all  the  forenoon  was  cloudy,  though  the 
sun  occasionally  broke  through.  About  ten  or  eleven 
o'clock  the  clouds  assumed  a  yellowish  hue,  reflecting  a 
yellow  light  on  all  objects.  An  hour  later  the  light  began 
to  fail,  and  by  one  o'clock  the  darkness  had  become  so 
great  that  candles  were  lighted,  and  kept  burning  all  the 
afternoon.  The  atmosphere  was  not  simply  dark,  says  the 
letter,  but  seemed  full  of  a  vapor  "  like  the  smoke  of  a 
malt-house  or  a  coal-kiln ;  "  and  there  was  a  strong  smell 
of  smoke,  as  there  had  been  for  some  days  previous. 

The  phenomenon  excited  great  awe  and  foreboding, 
and  was  commonly  regarded  as  something  supernatural. 
One  good  minister  assured  his  people  that  it  was  noth- 
ing less  than  the  "  pillars  of  smoke,"  prophesied  by  Joel, 
which  were  to  accompany  the  "  turning  of  the  sun  into 
darkness,  and  the  moon  into  blood,  before  the  great  and 
terrible  day  of  the  Lord  come."  Others  said  it  must  be 
the  pouring  out  of  the  seventh  vial  of  the  Apocalypse. 
Others  still,  desiring  to  be  somewhat  more  scientific,  said 
that  the  earth  was  passing  through  the  tail  of  a  comet, 
or  that  the  nucleus  of  a  comet  had  got  between  the 
earth  and  the  sun,  and  caused  an  eclipse. 

But  Dr.  Belknap,  who  was  a  man  of  keen  observation 
in  the  phenomena  of  Nature,  gives  what  is  doubtless  the 
true  explanation,  and  his  reasons  for  adopting  it.  For 
some  time  previous  it  had  been  unusually  dry  ;  it  was 
also  the  time  of  year  when  the  farmers,  breaking  up 
new  land,  were  in  the  habit  of  burning  off  the  woods  in 
order  to  plant  corn.  A  vast  cloud  of  smoke  had  thus 
been  generated,  which  for  several  days  had  hung  low, 
causing  a  strong  smell  of  smoke,  and  specially  notice- 
able at  sunset,  when  the  sun  seemed  to  disappear  in  a 
dense  bank  half  an  hour  before  its  setting.     Some  of  the 


l84  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

swamps  had  been  covered  with  a  sort  of  thick  scum ; 
rain-water  had  been  impregnated  with  smut;  and  every- 
thing pointed  to  the  presence  of  a  quantity  of  smoke, 
which,  for  atmospheric  reasons,  had  not  been  blown 
away.  On  the  day  of  the  darkness  the  atmospheric  con- 
ditions were  such  as  to  wrap  this  cloud  of  smoke  thickly 
around  this  section  of  New  England,  and  pack  it  close 
to  the  earth,  so  that  all  light  must  pass  through  it  and 
take  on  a  yellowish  tinge.  It  is  related  that  a  woman  in 
Middletown,  Ct.,  began  that  day  to  iron  her  clothes,  but 
found  them  looking  so  yellow  that  she  put  them  away, 
intending  to  wash  them  over  again  ;  but  on  looking  at 
other  things,  and  finding  them  all  in  the  same  condition, 
saw  that  it  was  occasioned  by  the  quality  of  the  light. 
The  smoke  was  less  dense  in  that  region,  so  that  it 
was  not  dark,  and  the  yellow  quality  of  the  light  was 
more  marked.  Those  of  us  who  remember  the  "  yellow 
day"  in  September,  1881,  will  see  at  once  the  identity 
of  the  phenomena. 

In  view  of  the  current  depression,  a  State  fast  was 
observed  on  the  20th  of  July.  But  the  light  was  begin- 
ning to  break  through  already.  On  the  14th  of  Decem- 
ber following,  the  first  warrant  was  issued  in  the  name 
of  the  "  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  Bay ;  "  and  on 
the  20th  of  the  next  February  the  form  was  changed 
to  the  "  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts."  The  war 
was  approaching  its  close,  —  the  town  was  classed  for 
recruits  for  the  last  time  Feb.  15,  1781.  In  October 
Cornwallis  surrendered  at  Yorktown,  and  the  result  of 
the  long  struggle  became  assured.  On  the  13th  of  De- 
cember the  thanksgiving  day  appointed  by  Congress  was 
joyfully  kept  in  Westborough,  and  an  offering  was  made 
for  the  sufferers  in  the  South. 


MR.   PARKMAN'S   last  DAYS.  I85 

Mr.  Parkman  was  beginning  by  this  time  to  show 
unmistakable  signs  of  breaking  up.  In  September,  1781, 
he  wrote  in  his  Diary,  "  I  am  growing  blind."  He  was 
obliged  to  add  that  it  was  sore  times  with  him,  — "  My 
people  have  paid  me  no  penny  for  fifteen  months,  and 
I  know  not  what  they  will  do."  Both  they  and  he  were 
feeling  the  pinch  of  the  times  severely.  There  were, 
moreover,  other  than  financial  troubles.  November  15th, 
Eben's  son  Elias  died  in  hospital  at  Peekskill,  aged 
twenty-four.  It  was  all  the  men  and  women  of  that 
day  could  do  to  pull  through  to  victory  and  peace ;  for 
the  old  pastor,  bowed  with  his  seventy-nine  years,  the 
strain  was  too  great  to  rally  from.  On  the  16th  of  June, 
1782,  he  wrote  in  his  Diary,  "  It  is  fifty-eight  years  since 
I  gave  my  answer  to  ye  Town's  call  to  ye  ministry." 
Few  men  have  ever  been  able  to  write  such  a  sentence 
as  that.  What  a  gulf  of  years  lay  between  those  records 
in  his  Diary !  For  the  man,  it  spanned  all  the  years  be- 
tween the  youth  of  twenty-one,  fresh  from  his  studies, 
preparing  for  his  marriage  and  for  the  opening  duties  of 
his  profession,  to  the  old  man  of  seventy-nine,  —  facul- 
ties failing,  limbs  growing  weak  and  tottering,  the  whole 
of  his  life  behind  him.  For  the  town,  it  covered  the 
growth  from  the  pioneer  settlement,  when  Indians  lurked 
in  the  woods,  and  the  roads  were  unbroken,  to  the  day 
of  schools  and  comfortable  homes  and  well-tilled  farms 
and  strong  civic  life,  —  from  the  ninth  year  of  George 
the  First  to  the  twenty-second  year  of  George  the  Third, 
and  to  the  accomplished  independence  of  these  Colo- 
nies, which  put  an  end  to  all  the  Georges  and  all  kings 
whatsoever  for  this  land  thenceforth.  When  he  came, 
Chauncy  Village  had  but  just  been  absorbed  in  the  town 
of  Westborough ;    it  contained  less  than  fifty  families  in 


186  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

an  area  nearly  twice  as  large  as  it  has  at  present.  He 
had  seen  it  grow  to  double  its  population  and  divide 
into  two,  and  the  southern  town  become  as  large  as 
both  had  been  at  the  time  of  division.  He  had  minis- 
tered in  the  first  meeting-house  during  the  whole  of  its 
existence,  and  in  the  new  one  until  it  had  become  too 
small,  and  had  been  enlarged  and  again  overflowed. 
To  the  original  thirteen  members  of  his  church  he  had 
added  three  hundred  and  eighty-one.  He  had  baptized 
them  all,  married  them  all,  and  attended  the  funerals  of 
those  that  had  died.  The  whole  life  of  the  town  was 
bound  up  with  his  life  as  it  could  never  be  again  with 
the  life  of  any  one  man.  It  owed  to  him  more  than  it 
could  ever  again  owe  to  any  individual. 

On  the  29th  of  August,  1782,  a  fast  was  held,  "on 
account,"  as  the  venerable  man  notes  it  in  the  church 
records,  "  of  the  continuance  of  the  war,  the  Drought, 
the  Increase  of  vice  and  wickedness,  &  ye  sorrowful  decay 
of  Religion."  It  was  the  last  time  he  ever  officiated  on 
a  day  of  civil  appointment.  He  was  still  preaching,  ac- 
cording to  his  Diary,  in  the  early  part  of  September; 
but  his  last  entry  was  made  in  the  church  records  on 
the  27th  of  October,  and  on  the  i8th  of  November  the 
town  voted  to  procure  some  one  to  assist  him  in  preach- 
ing for  the  winter,  appropriating  for  the  purpose  the  sum 
of  ;^30.  A  vote  was  passed  at  the  same  meeting  making 
an  addition  to  his  salary;  but  as  the  actual  grant  was 
not  made  until  the  March  meeting,  it  availed  him 
nothing,  for  before  he  could  derive  any  benefit  from  it 
he  had  gone  beyond  the  need  of  town-grants. 
,  He  died  Dec.  9,  1782,  aged  seventy-nine  years,  three 
months,  and  four  days  ;  the  funeral  service  was  held  on 
Monday,  the   i6th.     The  Rev.   Mr.  Bridge,   of  Sudbury, 


DEATH   OF   MR.   PARKMAN.  1 8/ 

preached  the  sermon  from  Psalm  xii.  i  :  "  Help,  Lord ; 
for  the  godly  man  ceaseth  ;  for  the  faithful  fail  from 
among  the  children  of  men." 

Mr.  Parkman  leaves  on  the  student  of  his  life  the  im- 
pression of  a  good   example  of  the  New  England  min- 
ister of  the  olden  time.     The  Rev.  Elisha  Rockwood  says 
of  him :   "  His  preaching  was  evangelical,  his  deportment 
dignified,   and    in    his    daily  intercourse   with    his    people 
he    was    distinguished    for    dropping    those    words    which 
are    like    apples    of    gold    in   pictures    of    silver."      It   is 
greatly   to    be    regretted   that   no    good    portrait   of   him 
survives,  to  give  us  a  clearer  conception  of  the  outward 
aspect  of  the  man.     His  bearing  was  always  in  keeping 
with  the  honorable  position  he  occupied.     He  magnified 
his  calling,  and  was  careful  not  to  lower  its  dignity;   but 
he   was    at   the    same    time   kindly   and   courteous.      He 
was  not  one   of  the  arrogant  and  lordly  class,  sometimes 
found  at  that  day,  whose  pastoral  sway  was  a  rough  dic- 
tatorship.    He  was,  indeed,  a  bishop  who  believed  that  it 
was  for  the  highest  interest  of  his  flock  that  they  should 
be  ruled,  and  he  ruled   them ;    but  his  sway  was  gentle 
and    reasonable,  and    his   assertion    of  his    rights    not   so 
efi*ectual  as  to  prevent  his  suffering  some  inconvenience, 
and  in  his  old  age  some  actual  want,  through  the  neglect 
of  those   who   were   in   duty  bound   to    provide    for   his 
necessities.     His  life  was  that  of  a  man  of  simple  tastes 
and  habits,  interested  in  common  things,  rising  with  some 
difficulty,  perhaps,  to   the   broad   sympathies  which  take 
in  great  affairs.     The  pages  of  his  Diary  are  full  of  the 
lights  and   shadows  of  daily  life,  while  pervaded  by  the 
sturdy  and  reverent   faith   of  the   men   of  his   time.     He 
communed  with  himself  much ;    he  trusted   in  God,  and 
imparted  his  own  religious  devotion  to  his  people.     There 


1 88  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

is  abundant  evidence  of  his  high  conscientiousness  and 
his  reverent  piety.  His  theology  was  such  as  the  age 
produced.  It  could  not  be  broad,  for  breadth  of  culture 
was  an  impossibility;  but  neither  was  it  bigoted  or  unin- 
telligent. And  in  his  ideas  of  practical  administration 
he  was  abreast  of  the  most  thoughtful  men  of  his  time, 
as  his  attitude  in  the  excitements  of  1740  shows.  His 
long  pastorate  was  of  high  service  to  the  town,  as  well 
as  to  the  kingdom  of  God  in  New  England ;  and  in  its 
contrast  to  that  which  immediately  followed,  made  the 
long-suffering  people  sigh  for  the  good  old  times.  Those 
who  have  followed  in  the  succession  during  the  hundred 
years  that  have  supervened,  have  found  no  obstacles  in 
their  way  of  his  raising,  and  have  been  honored  by 
their  connection  with  so  worthy  a  man  as  Ebenezer  Park- 
man.  By  his  patient  labors,  in  season  and  out  of  season, 
through  times  that  tried  men's  souls,  he  and  the  men 
and  women  who  toiled  with  him  wrought  out  a  noble 
becfinnincf  for  those  who  came  after  him.  It  would  be 
a  fitting  tribute  to  his  worth,  and  a  lasting  stimulus  to 
succeeding  generations,  if  some  suitable  memorial  of 
him  were  erected  in  the  church  and  town  he  served 
so  well.  In  a  higher  sense,  the  town  of  to-day  is  his 
memorial,  and  the  memorial  of  all  who,  like  him,  laid 
good  foundations  in  that  early  day  against  the  time 
to  come. 

He  was  buried  in  the  old  cemetery,  "  and  his  tomb 
is  with  us  unto  this  day."  The  inscription  upon  it  is  as 
follows :  — 


INSCRIPTION  ON  MR.  PARKMAN'S  TOMB.  1 89 


Here  lies  deposited 
the  mortal  part  of  that  man  of  God 
the  Rev.  Ebenezer  Parkman,  A.M., 
Who  was  born  Sept.  5,  1703  ; 
ordained  the  first  Bishop  of  the  Church 
in  Westborough,  October  28th,   1724 ; 
and  died  on  the  9th  of  December,  1782  : 
having  completed  the  79th  year  of  his  age 
on  Sept.  1 6th,  &  the  sSth  year  of  his  ministry 
on  November  8th,  preceding. 

He  was  formed  by  nature  and  education  to 
be  an  able  minister  of  the  New-Testament, 
and  obtained  grace  to  be  eminently  faithful 
in  the  work  of  the  Lord  : 
He  was  a  firm  friend  to  the  faith,  order,  and 
constitution  of  the  New-England  Churches. 
He  was  a  learned,  pious,  good  man,  and 
full  of  the  holy  Ghost,  &  faith  unfeigned; 
and  answered  St.  Paul's  description 
of  a  Scripture  Bishop,  being  "blameless, 
vigilant.  Sober,  of  good  behaviour, 
given  to  hospitality,  APT  to  teach." 

Be  thou  faithful  unto  the  death, 
And  I  will  give  thee  a  Crown  of  life. 
Says  Christ. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

1782-1800. 

FROM    THE    DEATH    OF    MR.    PARKMAN    TO    THE    END    OF 
THE   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY. 

THE  town  was  not  ruined  by  the  war,  in  spite  of  the 
hard  drain  upon  it.  According  to  Peter  Whitney 
it  had  in  1791  a  hundred  and  eighteen  houses  and  nine 
hundred  and  thirty-four  inhabitants ;  and  the  people  were 
industrious  and  wealthy,  according  to  his  standard,  "  as 
any  one  must  naturally  suppose  from  the  appearance  of 
their  places  and  buildings."  It  is  pleasant  to  know  that 
Westborough's  reputation  for  keeping  its  farms  and  build- 
ings in  good  order  dates  back  so  far.  There  were  men 
here  at  this  time  who  had  accumulated  wealth,  lived 
in  good  houses,  and  kept  a  modest  retinue  of  servants. 
Capt.  Stephen  Maynard  was  perhaps  the  wealthiest  of 
all ;  he  lived  in  the  house  on  the  Northborough  road  now 
occupied  by  B.  J.  Stone,  was  a  very  prominent  figure  in 
the  town,  and  one  of  the  leaders  in  military  affairs.  A 
great-granddaughter  has  written  of  him :  — 

"  He  was  a  rich  old  nabob  and  a  stiff  whig.  He  owned  two 
negroes,  a  male  and  a  female,  man  and  wife,  who  had  a  child 
just  about  the  age  of  Anne  Brigham  [a  stepdaughter  of  Captain 
Maynard,  who  married  the  first  Isaac  Davis].  They  were  after- 
wards sold,  and  removed  south ;  and  my  grandmother  [Mrs. 
Davis]  said  she  could  well  remember  their  departure.  She  was 
very  much  attached  to  the  daughter." 

This  is  an  interesting  glimpse  into  the  time,  and  makes 
us  long  for  more.     It  is  not  impossible  that  the  doughty 


PROMINENT  MEN  A   CENTURY  AGO.  I9I 

captain  was  not  altogether  in  sympathy  with  the  appeal 
of  those  rank  abolitionists  of  that  early  time,  the  Rev. 
Messrs.  Stiles  and  Hopkins,  when  they  came  to  West- 
borough  in  1776  to  raise  money  for  their  negro  colony  in 
Annamabo,  Africa.  But  slaves  were  no  novelty  in  New 
England  at  that  day.  Mr.  Parkman  had  one  himself,  whom 
he  brought  from  Boston  ;^  Mr.  James  Bowman  is  known 
to  have  owned  one ;    and  there  are  traditions  of  others. 

There  were  other  prominent  men  here  in  those  days,  of 
whom  we  can  obtain  only  a  glimpse,  —  Phineas  Hardy, 
whose  name  heads  the  list  of  signers  of  the  reply  to  the 
Committee  of  Correspondence;  Capt.  Nathan  Fisher,  who 
was  delegate  to  the  Constitutional  Convention  in  1779,  and 
representative  for  many  years  ;  Dr.  James  Hawes,  who 
was  always  wanted  for  committees  and  important  posi- 
tions ;  Lieut.  Moses  Wheelock,  who  rose  to  be  Colonel 
Wheelock,  and  was  a  man  of  much  force.  These  and  many 
others  gave  character  to  the  town,  which  at  that  time 
occupied  an  honorable  place  in  the  county.  Every  one 
knows  the  small  marble  slab  which  stands  by  the  road- 
side, on  the  way  to  Shrewsbury,  just  beyond  the  house  of 
the  late  George  Davis.  It  bears  this  inscription :  "  Capt. 
Bezaleel  Eager  was  killed  on  this  spot  Oct.  31,  1787, 
aged  74.  Erected  by  I.  Davis,"  One  day  in  1874  I 
found  in  the  Worcester  Library  an  old  copy  of  a  mag- 
azine published  in  Worcester  in  1787  by  Isaiah  Thomas, 
then  the  only  newspaper  of  the  region,  which  contained 
the  following  item  from  Northborough :  — 

1  This  slave  was  named  Maro,  and  was  purchased  of  Mr.  Parkman's 
father  in  Boston  in  1728  for  the  sum  of  £74.  Mr.  Parkman  made  the 
journey  home  on  horseback,  the  negro  running  behind.  A  little  more  than 
a  year  afterward  he  wrote  in  his  Journal  that  Maro  was  very  ill,  —  at  the 
point  of  death;  and  the  next  day  made  the  following  unique  record  :  "Dark 
as  it  has  been  with  us,  it  became  much  darker  about  the  sun-setting  :  the 
Sun  of  Maro's  life  Sat." 


192  EARLY   HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

"Died  at  Northboro'  Oct.  31,  very  suddenly,  in  the  74th  year 
of  his  age,  Capt.  Bezaleel  Eager,  formerly  a  representative  for 
the  town  of  Westborough  in  the  General  Court.  He  was  a  per- 
son well  known,  and  as  well  respected,  and  his  death  is  much 
lamented.  He  was  a  sensible,  honest,  worthy  man,  and  has  left 
behind  him  a  fair  character  and  a  good  name. 

"  The  manner  of  his  death  was  as  follows  :  retiring  from  a 
lecture  [held  in  the  house  which  stood  just  this  side  of  the 
stone  above  mentioned],  he  mounted  his  horse  in  the  view  of  a 
number  of  people  ;  but  not  being  properly  seated,  and  not  having 
full  possession  of  the  bridle  —  as  was  supposed  —  his  horse, 
lively  and  gay,  immediately  set  out  upon  a  run,  and  threw 
him  against  a  stone  wall,  whereby  his  brains  were  instantly 
dashed  out,  perhaps  not  more  than  twenty  rods  from  where 
he  first  mounted.  Several  persons  ran  to  him  as  he  fell,  but 
discovered  not  the  least  sign  of  life  in  him,  except  the  motion 
of  the  lungs,  which  continued  nearly  an  hour ;  and  then  he  ex- 
pired, —  probably  without  any  sense  of  pain,  as  it  was  without 
the  least  motion   of  any  limb  or  part  of  the  body." 

So  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  Revolution  escaped  the 
perils  of  war,  to  die  by  an  accident  at  home. 

Meantime  there  was  a  boy  growing  up  on  one  of  the 
hills  just  southwest  of  the  village  who  was  to  make  a 
reputation  for  himself  that  would  be  national.  Born  in 
the  same  year  that  saw  the  rising  indignation  over  the 
Stamp  Act,  and  ten  years  old  when  the  war  began,  Eli 
Whitney  was  now  making  the  beginning  of  his  higher 
education,  and  was  off  to  Yale  College  in  1788.  In  ten 
years  more,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three,  he  had  made  his 
cotton-gin  invention;  and  having  given  up  the  useless  task 
of  trying  to  reap  the  profit  of  it,  was  making  a  contract 
with  the  Government  for  firearms,  and  laying  the  foun- 
dation of  the  prosperous  factories  at  Whitneyville. 

The  disposal  of  the  "ministerial  farm"  of  1710,  which 


THE   MINISTERIAL  FARM.  1 93 

was  now  the  joint  property  of  Westborough  and  North- 
borough,  had  for  some  time  been  a  question  of  consider- 
able perplexity.  Northborough  was  disposed  to  claim  a 
part  of  it  for  its  own  minister;  and  in  September,  1768, 
the  selectmen  were  directed  to  inquire  "  whether  the  min- 
ister in  Northborough  has  any  right  to  the  ministerial 
land  in  Westborough."  At  the  March  meeting  in  1770 
a  committee  was  appointed  to  survey  the  land,  —  doubt- 
less with  the  idea  that  it  might  some  day  be  sold ;  and 
this  committee  made  report  to  the  town,  May  21,  as 
follows :  — 

"The  Line  next  to  Fessenden's  is  108  rods  in  Length,  but  by 
the  old  plan  is  set  down  80;  ye  Southwest  angle  by  the  old  plan 
is  24  Rods,  but  by  our  Messuer  turns  out  but  14  Rods;  the 
South  next  to  Beaton's  and  Burns'  is  set  down  in  the  old  plan 
80  Rods,  and  we  find  by  the  Chan  it  is  96  Rods.  The  Easte 
Line  Towards  ye  South  Easte  corner  by  the  old  plan  is  48  Rods, 
by  our  Measuer  is  53  Rods ;  the  other  three  angles  agree  nearly 
with  the  old  Plan  ;  the  North  Line,  called  by  the  old  Plan  56 
Rods,  but  will  not  hold  out  but  30  rods  and  a  half :  so  we  find 
but  32  acers  and  16  rod  in  the  whole." 

This  was  the  measurement  of  the  section  west  of  Chauncy 
Pond,  which  was  called  in  the  original  grant  from  the 
Proprietors  of  Marlborough  "  forty  acres  of  upland  and 
swamp ;  "  there  was  also  the  ten-acre  meadow  lot  near 
Hobomoc  Pond. 

We  hear  nothing  more  of  this  land  until  1782,  when 
action  is  taken  twice,  in  January  and  December,  by  the 
appointment  of  committees  to  confer  with  Northborough 
in  regard  to  its  equitable  division.  Nothing  is,  however, 
accomplished  until  Jan.  12,  1784,  when  the  sale  is  actually 
made,  and  the  first  and  larger  lot  goes  to  Jacob  Broaders, 
and  the  other  to  Thaddeus  Fay,     The  proceeds  were  of 


194  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

course  divided  between  the  two  towns,  and  that  which 
fell  to  Westborough  was  set  apart  under  the  name  of  the 
"  Parsonage  Fund,"  and  the  income  of  it  appHed  to  the 
support  of  preaching.  In  August  of  the  same  year 
the  town  voted  to  buy  some  land  around  the  meeting- 
house from  the  heirs  of  Mr.  Parkman,  in  order  to  en- 
large the  common.  It  was  bought  for  twenty-three  dollars 
an  acre,  and  a  wall  was  built  around  the  common,  three 
and  a  half  feet  wide  at  the  base,  and  four  feet  and  four 
inches  high.  A  little  later  there  was  a  grant  of  land  for 
sheds  near  the  meeting-house. 

There  is  little  else  on  record  concerning  the  life  of  the 
town  for  some  time,  except  in  matters  ecclesiastical. 
There  was  a  vote  at  the  March  meeting  in  1786  to  dispose 
of  the  paper  money  in  the  treasurer's  office  at  the  rate 
of  4s.  per  $100, — which  shows  the  sad  fate  which  be- 
falls an  inflated  currency.  In  December,  1787,  the  insur- 
gents in  what  was  called  "  Shays's  Rebellion  "  made  an 
outbreak  at  Worcester  and  at  Springfield.  Westborough 
passed  a  vote  disapproving  of  the  measures  taken  by 
them,  as  it  had  in  1765  expressed  its  disapprobation  of 
the  "  Rioatous  Assemblies  and  unlawful  acts  of  Violence" 
in  connection  with  the  Stamp  Act.  The  town  had  so  well 
imbibed  the  true  idea  of  free  civil  government  that  while 
it  was  willing  to  sacrifice  to  the  utmost  for  civil  liberty, 
it  would  countenance  nothing  unlawful  or  disorderly,  even 
in  the  name  of  liberty.  No  higher  praise  than  this  could 
be  given  to  any  civil  body. 

In  1785  the  growth  of  the  town  required  a  new  adjust- 
ment of  the  school  districts.  In  1742  there  had  been 
apparently  but  three  districts  in  the  whole  town,  which 
at  that  time  included  Northborough.  Then  came  the 
long  period  of  uncertainties,  resulting  in  the  division   of 


OLD   SCHOOL   DISTRICTS.  I95 

the  town.  In  1765  the  first  effort  had  been  made  to 
"  squadron  "  the  town,  and  the  system  then  adopted  had 
lasted  essentially  for  the  twenty  years  following.  But  at 
this  time  the  matter  was  taken  up  again,  and  numerous 
town  meetings  were  held  before  any  agreement  could  be 
reached,  on  account  of  the  conflicting  interests  of  differ- 
ent sections  and  families.  A  good  many  wished  to  have 
nine  squadrons,  and  it  was  only  by  a  small  majority  that 
it  was  at  last  voted  to  have  six,  as  follows:  No.  i,  in  the 
centre;  No.  2,  westerly,  toward  Grafton;  No.  3,  easterly, 
toward  Marlborough;  No.  4,  northerly;  No.  5,  south- 
erly, toward  Upton ;  No.  6,  the  "  Flanders  road."  The 
only  real  change  effected  by  this  action  was  the  separa- 
tion of  the  Flanders  from  the  east  squadron,  to  be  a 
district  by  itself.  But  in  1789  a  new  division  was  made, 
resulting  in  what  was  essentially  the  district  system,  which 
has  survived  to  the  present  generation  A  few  changes 
were  made  in  1836,  but  they  were  unimportant. 

Inasmuch  as  the  report  of  the  squadroning  committee 
of  1789  contains  a  complete  list  of  the  families  in  town  at 
the  time,  as  well  as  the  situation  of  the  several  school- 
houses,  it  is  herewith  subjoined. 

Report  of  Committee  chosen  to  Squadron  out  the  Town. 
The  Report  of  ye  above  Committee  is  as  follows ;  viz.  — 

Gentlemen,  —  We  your  Committee  have  attended  the  Busi- 
ness for  which  we  weare  appointed,  and  after  considering  the 
Situation  of  our  inhabitants  have  divided  them  out  into  Squad- 
rons as  within  mentioned,  &  pitched  upon  places  for  the  School 
Houses  to  stand  on  in  each  squadron  unless  any  squadron  shall 
agree  to  sett  them  other  where  ;  also  that  the  money  which  shall 
be  granted  for  Schooling  be  Divided  According  to  the  Number 
of  Families  in  each  squadron,  &  that  Flander  Squadron  so  called, 
remain  as  they  are. 


196 


EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 


First  Squadron. 
Joseph  Baker,  Esq.  William  Wood. 


John  Baker. 
Col.  Nathan  Fisher. 
Dea.  Benjamin  Wood. 
James  Hawes,  Esq. 
Stephen  Maynard. 
Elijah  Brigham. 


Capt.  Daniel  Reed. 
Col.  Moses  Wheelock. 
Isaac  Ruggles. 
Ebenezer  Gay. 
Doct.  David  Taintor. 
Breck  Parkman. 


Oliver  Nason. 

The  school  house  to  stand  between  the  meeting  house  &  Doct. 
Taintor's  on  the  south  side  of  the  road. 

Second  Squadron. 


Abijah  Gale. 
Capt.  Edmund  Brigham. 
Solomon  Leonard. 
Samuel  Bellows. 
Asa  Forbush. 
Abraham  Beeman. 


George  Andrews. 
George  Andrews  2^ 
Phineas  Haskell. 
Daniel  Warren. 
Timothy  Warren. 
The  Work  House. 


The  school  house  to  stand  at  the  Great  road,  at  the  End  of 
Asa  Forbush's  Lane. 


Third  Squadron. 


Jonathan  Forbes. 
Capt.  Jonathan  Fay. 
Lieut.  Joshua  Grout. 
Joseph  Grout. 
Enoch  Greenwood. 
Lieut.  Benjamin  Fay. 
Jeduthun  Fay, 
Eli  Whitney. 
Elijah  Hardy. 
Thomas  Twitchel. 


Thomas  Twitchel 
Shadrach  Miller. 
Daniel  Robbins. 
Phineas  Brigham. 
John  Fay. 
Elijah  Whitney. 
Daniel  Nurse. 
Jonathan  Child. 
Aaron  Sherman. 
Widow  Brigham. 


The  school  house  to  stand  between  the  end  of  Elijah  Hardy's 
lane  and  the  top  of  the  Hill  toward  Lt.  Grout's. 


OLD   SCHOOL   DISTRICTS. 


197 


Fourth  Squadron. 


Ensign  Rufus  Forbush. 

"      James  Miller. 
Joseph  Harrington. 
John  Harrington. 
Benjamin  Ball. 


Isaac  Adams. 
Stephen  Bathrick. 
John  Ball. 
Martin  Pratt. 
Lt.  James  Bowman. 


Benjamin  Bowman. 
The  school  house  to  stand  at  the  end  of  Mr.  Bowman's  lane. 


Fifth 

Lieut.  Thomas  Morse. 
Capt.  Seth  Morse. 
Eben  Miller. 
Ensign  Aaron  Warren. 
"  Elisha  Forbes. 
Benjamin  Harrington. 
Stephen  Cook. 


Squadron. 

Aaron  Fisher. 
Butler  &  Mellen. 
David  Morse. 
Asahel  Biglow. 
Widow  Biglow. 
Moses  Pike. 
Phineas  Forbes. 


The  school  house  to  stand  at  the  end  of  Lt.  Thomas 
Morse's  lane  where  it  meets  the  Upton  road,  between  Mr.  Eben 
Miller's  and  Ensign  Warren's. 


Phineas  Gleason. 
Ezra  Beeker. 
Eleazer  Rider. 
Isaac  Cody. 
Joseph  Green. 
Samuel  Fay. 
Gershom  Brigham 
Amasa  Maynard. 
Elisha  Rice. 
Samuel  Rice. 
Lt.  Joseph  Bond. 


Sixth  Squadron. 

Thaddeus  Warren. 
Capt.  J.  Godfrey. 
Samuel  Fisher. 
Lt.  Isaac  Parker. 
Ebenezer  Maynard. 
Jonathan  Maynard. 
John  Beeton. 
Capt.  S.  Maynard. 
Beriah  Ware. 
John  Fessenden. 
Benjamin  Warren. 
Edward  Cobb. 


The  school  house  to  remain  where  it  now  stands,  between  the 
top  of  the  Hill  and  the  River. 


198  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Seventh  Squadron. 

Lieut.  Antipas  Brigham.  Jonathan  Bathrick. 

David  Brigham.  Solomon  Bathrick. 

Abraham  Bond.  Samuel  Forbush. 

Richard  Barnes.  Ebenezer  Forbush. 

Richard  Barnes  Jr.  Thomas  Andrews. 

David  Bathrick.  Lieut.  Solomon  Maynard. 
Daniel  Wight. 

The  school  house  to  stand  between  Mr.  Abraham  Bond's  and 
Jonathan  Bathrick's. 

Flanders  Squadron. 

Samuel  Bellows.  Joseph  Belknap  2*^. 

Stephen  Belknap.  Seth  Woods. 

Daniel  Chamberlain.  Nathaniel  Fay. 

William  Johnson.  Reuben  Bellows. 

Elijah  Snow.  Eben.  Chamberlain. 

Adonijah  Rice.  Daniel  North. 

The  above  Report  being  accepted,  the  Meeting  was  dissolved. 
{Signed)  Elijah  Brigham,  Moderator. 

A  new  phase  of  the  pauper  question  occurred  in  1790, 
when  the  workhouse,  built  in  1767,  was  sold ;  and  for  the 
next  quarter  of  a  century  the  paupers  were  disposed  of  by 
being  annually  set  up  at  auction,  and  knocked  down  to 
the  lowest  bidder.  This  saved  the  town  some  money,  but 
was  not  particularly  creditable  to  its  humanity.  Subse- 
quently they  were  all  kept  by  Mr.  Levi  Bowman,  who 
lived  on  the  Upton  road,  until  the  Daniel  Chamberlain 
place  was  purchased  for  a  town  farm,  in  1825. 

During  the  six  years  following  the  death  of  Mr.  Park- 
man,  both  town  and  church  were  continually  agitated  in 
regard  to  securing  a  successor.  The  town  had  voted,  two 
weeks  after  the  funeral,  to  provide  £16  12s.  \d.  to  pay  for 


SEEKING  A  NEW   MINISTER.  1 99 

the  funeral  expenses,  and  "  to  continue  the  Salary  of  our 
late  Rev.  pastor  deceased  for  nine  Sabbaths  after  his 
decease,"  if  the  pulpit  is  supplied  by  the  neighboring 
ministers.  At  the  same  meeting  it  was  voted  "  that  the 
Committee  be  directed  to  provide  Sum  person  of  a  Good 
Carracter  to  preach  the  gospel  to  us  in  this  town."  A  fast 
was  held  to  pray  for  a  minister  on  the  20th  of  March  fol- 
lowing, and  in  August  it  was  voted  "  to  give  a  privelege  to 
all  that  is  21  years  of  age  to  vote  for  the  choice  of  a  min- 
ister." This  was  a  step  of  more  importance  than  at  first 
appears,  for  it  was  the  death-knell  of  the  old  and  tenacious 
custom  of  requiring  church  membership  as  a  qualification 
for  voting  in  town  affairs.  And  it  is  also  worthy  of  note 
that  the  church,  at  a  meeting  the  next  October,  voted  to 
discontinue  "  the  half-way  covenant,"  —  a  measure  which 
had  been  adopted  as  a  compromise  by  the  churches  of 
that  day,  to  allow  some  who  were  not  ready  to  become 
members  of  the  church  in  full  standing  to  have  a  pseudo- 
relation  to  it  which  might  give  them  a  voice  in  civil  matters. 
The  effect  of  it  had  always  been  disastrous  to  the  church, 
and  the  disuse  of  it  was  a  long  step  forward,  both  for 
church  and  state. 

Meantime  the  town  was  taking  measures  to  secure  a 
new  minister  after  a  manner  peculiar  to  the  time.  On  the 
20th  of  July,  1783,  Adoniram  Judson,  afterward  settled 
in  Plymouth,  where  he  is  buried,  preached  in  the  West- 
borough  meeting-house.  The  town  thereupon  voted  to 
hear  him  longer  "  on  probation." 

Thereupon  for  two  months  the  young  man  stood  up 
Sunday  after  Sunday,  to  be  scanned  and  listened  to  with 
critical  intent.  That  ought  to  have  been,  long  enough, 
one  would  think;  but  at  the  end  of  the  probation,  Septem- 
ber 22d,  the  town,  liking  the  sport,  voted  "  to  hear  him 


200  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

four  Sabbaths  more."  That  ordeal  was  over  at  last,  and  he 
might  have  hoped  for  an  issue  to  all  his  trials ;  but  the 
vote  in  October  was  simply  "  to  hear  him  farther,"  with 
the  somewhat  sarcastic  addition,  "  with  a  view  to  settle- 
ment." It  must  have  looked  like  a  dissolving  "  view  "  to 
him,  and  how  long  he  held  himself  as  the  target  for  the 
indeterminate  shafts  of  criticism  is  uncertain.  He  did 
preach  two  Sundays  in  the  following  February,  and  a 
church  meeting  was  called  for  March  i6,  "  to  see  if  they 
will  call  him."  Nothing  came  of  that,  however;  but  the 
following  week  at  another  church-meeting,  at  which  thirty 
were  present,  he  was  called  by  a  vote  of  twenty-two  to 
eight,  and  a  committee  was  appointed  to  wait  on  the 
selectmen  and  ask  the  town  to  call  a  meeting  to  see  if  it 
would  concur.  This  began  to  look  as  though  the  nine 
months'  trial  might  bear  fruit;  but  the  town- meeting  held 
April  12  not  only  failed  to  concur  in  calling  him,  but 
added  the  unnecessary  odium  of  passing  over  the  article. 

Meantime,  on  the  20th  of  October,  1783,  the  church  had 
introduced  the  question  whether  any  future  minister  should 
have  the  veto-power;  and  though  the  article  was  passed 
over,  —  perhaps  out  of  regard  to  the  feelings  of  the  Park- 
man  family,  —  it  was  becoming  evident  that  it  would 
not  do  for  any  younger  man,  who  would  be  a  stranger 
among  them,  to  aspire  to  that  position  of  authority 
which  they  had  tolerated,  though  not  without  protest,  in 
their  old  minister. 

The  next  candidate  for  the  vacant  pulpit  was  Edmund 
Mills,  who  began  to  preach  in  May,  1784,  and  at  a  meet- 
ing of  the  town,  August  20,  was  invited  "  to  preach  eight 
Sabbaths  more,  with  a  view  to  settling."  On  the  26th  of 
September  a  fast  was  held  by  the  church  in  relation  to  the 
subject  of  a  minister,  at  which  the  churches  in  Shrewsbury, 


THE   CALL   OF  THE   SECOND   MINISTER.  201 

Grafton,  Upton,  Hopkinton,  and  Northborough  assisted. 
Mr.  Mills  was  consulted  with  regard  to  his  opinions  con- 
cerning the  subject  of  the  ministerial  veto  and  baptism, 
with  a  result  that  was  satisfactory.  The  church  called  him 
on  the  2 1  St  of  October  by  twenty-nine  votes;  there  being 
thirty-four  present,  and  no  one  voting  in  the  negative. 
On  November  8  the  town  concurred  by  a  strong  vote, 
and  offered  £2'jo  as  "settlement,"  and  £(^Q  in  silver 
money,  at  the  rate  of  six  shillings  per  ounce,  as  salary. 
But  this  time  it  was  the  candidate  who  was  unwilling, 
and  Mr.  Mills  declined  to  come.  The  town  was  very 
desirous  of  securing  him,  and  voted,  November  28th,  to 
ask  him  to  supply  the  pulpit  still,  and  to  settle,  if  he  could 
be  persuaded  to  do  so ;  but  without  avail. 

Col.  Moses  Wheelock  and  others  then  tried  to  put  for- 
ward Mr.  Judson  again,  but  did  not  succeed  in  persuading 
the  town.  Thus  matters  stood  for  nearly  a  year  longer ; 
when  in  the  summer  of  1786  Mr.  Judson  was  hired  as  a 
supply,  and  on  September  6  the  church  again  called  him; 
but  the  town  refused  to  act,  and  so  the  matter  ended,  and 
the  case  of  Mr.  Judson  was  finally  disposed  of. 

To  the  four  years  already  elapsed  since  the  death  of  Mr. 
Parkman  two  more  were  added  before  the  vacant  pastorate 
was  filled.  But  at  length,  in  the  summer  of  1788,  Mr. 
John  Robinson,  who  came  from  New  Haven,  preached 
with  general  approval ;  and  having,  as  they  fancied,  learned 
wisdom  by  experience,  the  people  did  not  wait  so  long 
as  heretofore,  nor  require  so  long  a  candidature,  but 
made  a  leap  in  the  dark  which  they  afterward  had  con- 
siderable leisure  to  repent  of.  The  church  called  him 
September  29,  and  the  town  unanimously  ratified  the  call 
on  the  13th  of  October.  The  salary  was  fixed  at  £%o, — 
a  portion  of  which  was  provided  for  from  the  interest  of 


202  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

the  "Parsonage  Fund,"  —  together  with  twenty  cords  of 
wood  a  year.  ;^200  was  granted  as  a  "  settlement."  On 
the  30th  of  November  his  answer  accepting  the  call  was 
read  to  the  church. 

Thereupon  the  people,  with  an  eagerness  whetted  by 
six  years  of  waiting,  and  by  the  fact  that  there  had  been 
no  such  notable  occasion  in  the  town  for  sixty-four  years, 
proceeded  to  make  preparations  for  an  ordination.  First, 
the  town  appointed  Jan.  14,  1789,  as  the  great  day. 
Two  days  later  the  church  confirmed  the  action  by  call- 
ing a  council  for  that  date,  and  appointing  Dea.  Benjamin 
Wood,  Elijah  Brigham,  Dea.  James  Hawes,  Abijah  Gale, 
and  Joseph  Harrington  a  committee  to  make  the  arrange- 
ments. It  was  now  the  middle  of  December,  and  the 
preparations  went  on  apace.  The  town,  in  view  of  the 
fact  that  something  stronger  than  water  would  flow  with 
unusual  freedom  on  such  an  occasion,  deemed  it  wise  to 
appoint  a  strong  committee  of  fifteen,  headed  by  the  con- 
stable, in  all  the  dignity  of  office,  to  "  keep  the  doors  of 
the  house,  and  see  that  there  is  no  disturbance,"  and  an- 
other to  see  that  the  house,  likely  to  be  crowded  to  its 
utmost  capacity,  is  "  properly  propt  up."  The  "  body 
seats  on  the  women's  side  "  were  reserved  for  the  council, 
and  "  the  men's  body  seats  "  for  the  church.  Further,  not 
having  quite  the  modern  conveniences  of  mails,  the  town 
voted  "  to  send  to  New  Haven  for  Mr.  Robinson's  dis- 
mission from  that  church,  and  the  selectmen  to  procure 
somebody  to  go  as  soon  as  may  be." 

On  the  day  appointed  the  council  met,  and  proceeded 
with  its  duties.    It  was  composed  of  the  following  churches : 

The  Church  of  Christ  in  Shrewsbury,  the  Rev.  Joseph  Sumner. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Upton,  the  Rev.  Elisha  Fish. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Milford,  the  Rev.  Amariah  Frost. 


INSTALLATION   OF  JOHN   ROBINSON.  203 

The  Church  of  Christ  in  Northborough,  the  Rev.  Peter  Whitney. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Marlborough,  the  Rev.  Asa  Packard. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Southborough  [vacant]. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Grafton  [vacant]. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Hopkinton  [vacant]. 
The   Church    of    Christ    in    Franklin,   the    Rev.    Nathaniel 
Emmons,  D.D. 

The  Church  of  Christ  in  Yale  College,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Wales. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Medway,  the  Rev.  David  Sanford. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Berlin,  the  Rev.  Reuben  Puffer. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Mendon,  the  Rev.  Caleb  Alexander. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Southington,  Ct. 
The  Church  of  Christ  in  Lebanon,  Ct. 

After  the  usual  preliminaries  the  services  of  installation 
proceeded.  Mr.  Alexander,  of  Mendon,  made  the  opening 
prayer;  Dr.  Emmons  preached  the  sermon;  David  Sanford 
offered  the  ordaining  prayer;  Mr.  Fish,  of  Upton,  gave  the 
charge  to  the  pastor ;  Mr.  Sumner,  of  Shrewsbury,  gave  the 
right  hand  of  fellowship  ;  and  Mr.  Puffer,  of  Berlin,  offered 
the  closing  prayer;  "  and,"  says  the  record,  "  Mr.  Robinson 
was  ordained."  That  meant  much;  but  fortunately  the 
good  people  as  yet  were  ignorant  how  much. 

Mr.  Robinson  was  given  possession  of  the  farm  now 
known  as  the  Whitney  place,  which  he  afterward  sold  to 
Mr.  Josiah  Bond,  and  he,  in  turn,  to  Major  John  Fayer- 
weather.  Here  the  parson  settled  down  for  what  was  then 
expected  to  be  a  life-long  residence,  and  the  ecclesiastical 
machinery  once  more  settled  into  its  routine. 

The  beginning  of  a  new  ecclesiastical  administration  was 
to  some  extent  fruitful,  as  is  usual,  in  changes  of  method. 
The  first  indication  of  this  was  in  the  regular  appointment 
of  the  communion  service,  which  had  hitherto  been  a  varia- 
ble feast,  for  the  second  Sunday  of  each  alternate  month, 
beginning  with  February.     The  length  of  the  intermission 


204  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

on  Communion  Sundays  was  fixed,  in  1791,  at  two  hours. 
There  was  some  improvement  on  foot  in  the  singing  also. 
The  Tate  and  Brady  collection  had  been  in  use  since  1771, 
with  some  fugitive  hymns  of  Watts.  Since  1781  there  had 
been,  as  we  have  seen,  something  like  a  choir.  In  1789 
there  was  an  article  in  the  warrant  for  the  March  meeting 
"  to  see  if  it  Be  the  minds  of  this  Town  to  have  Dr. 
Watts'  Psalms  sung  in  the  town,"  and  the  town  voted  "  to 
have  Dr.  Watses  Salms  &  Hymns  sung  in  the  Congrega- 
tion." In  1 791  the  church  nominated  to  the  selectmen 
certain  persons  to  lead  the  singing,  and  requested  them  to 
insert  an  article  in  the  warrant  in  regard  to  encouraging 
singing  by  hiring  a  singing-master.  Some  years  before, 
in  1784,  the  space  in  the  meeting-house  allotted  to  the 
singers  had  been  enlarged,  the  men  to  have  "  the  women's 
front  gallery,"  and  "  the  women  singers  the  side  gallery 
as  far  as  to  the  ally  that  goes  out  at  the  east  door."  No 
change  was  made  at  this  time  in  regard  to  this  arrange- 
ment; only  the  singers  were  requested  "  to  attend  public 
worship  seasonable." 

The  old  custom  of  lining  out  the  hymns  was  still  in 
vogue  here.  Worcester  had  dispensed  with  it  in  1779, 
though  at  the  cost  of  a  struggle.  The  Sunday  after  the 
church  there  had  voted  to  discontinue  the  custom,  it  is  re- 
lated that  Deacon  Chamberlain,  to  whom  the  duty  of  lining 
out  had  fallen,  went  to  church  resolved  to  die  hard.  When 
the  hymn  was  given  out,  he  read  the  first  line,  as  usual. 
The  choir  sang  it,  but  made  no  stop  after  it.  He  raised 
his  voice  and  read  on.  The  choir  sang  on ;  and  they 
having  the  advantage  of  numbers  and  volume,  he  was  soon 
overpowered,  and  seizing  his  hat,  left  the  church  in  tears. 
The  worst  of  it  was  that  the  majority  could  not  be  content 
with  their  victory,  but  must  needs  put  the  poor  deacon 


CHANGES  IN  CHURCH  USAGES.  20$ 

under  censure,  and  suspend  him  from  the  communion  for  a 
long  time,  for  "  absenting  himself  from  the  public  services 
of  the  Sabbath  !  " 

Westborough,  more  conservative,  kept  the  custom  till 
i8c4,  but  dispensed  with  it  then  by  vote  of  the  town, 
without  any  serious  convulsions  following. 

Another  change,  agitated,  but  not  carried  out  in  1791, 
had  regard  to  the  reading  of  "  relations  "  of  experience  and 
belief  by  candidates  for  admission  to  the  church.  Thus 
far  the  church,  in  common  with  most  others  in  New  Eng- 
land, had  propounded  no  creed  to  its  candidates  for  ad- 
mission. They  had,  presumably,  been  instructed  in  the 
catechism,  but  farther  than  that  they  had  only  to  assent  to 
the  covenant  prepared  by  Mr.  Parkman.  But  at  a  later 
period,  perhaps  only  since  his  death,  they  had  been  re- 
quired to  write  out  something  like  an  individual  confession 
of  faith.  One  of  these  recitals  of  belief,  dating  from  that 
period,  has  been  preserved,  and  may  be  of  sufficient  inter- 
est to  students  of  the  growth  of  forms  in  the  churches  of 
New  England  to  warrant  us  in  bringing  it  from  its  sacred 
privacy  to  the  light  of  day.     It  is  as  follows :  — 

I  desire  to  bless  God  that  I  was  born  in  a  land  of  Gospel  light, 
and  have  been  favored  with  a  preached  gospel ;  but  I  would 
lament  the  mis-improvement  I  have  made  of  my  time  and  oppor- 
tunities. And  I  desire  to  bless  God  that  He  has  been  pleased 
to  shew  me  that  I  am  a  sinner,  and  that  the  name  of  Christ  alone 
is  to  be  trusted  for  salvation.  As  to  the  Articles  of  my  Faith, — 
I  believe  there  is  one  God  in  three  persons,  the  Father,  Son,  and 
Holy  Ghost ;  and  that  the  Scriptures  were  given  by  divine  in- 
spiration ;  and  that  all  men  are  enslaved  under  sin,  being  fallen 
from  God,  and  are  justly  condemned  by  His  holy  law.  I  believe 
Jesus  Christ  was  constituted  by  the  Father  to  be  a  Saviour  to  all 
believers  ;  and  that  the  ordinances  are  of  divine  appointment ; 
and  that  the  Supper  was  instituted  to  be  a  standing  memorial 
of  the  death  and  sufferings  of  my  Blessed  Lord.     And  I  desire, 


206  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

with  a  penitent  and  believing  heart,  to  wait  on  God  in  His  Ordi- 
nance, and  to  bless  God  that  I  was  born  of  Christian  parents,  by 
whom  I  was  early  dedicated  to  Him  in  Baptism,  and  now  would 
take  my  baptismal  engagement  on  myself,  and  desire  admit- 
tance to  full  Communion  with  the  Church  of  God  in  this  place ; 
and  ask  your  prayers  to  God  for  me  that  I  may  be  a  worthy 
partaker  at  the  table  of  the  Lord. 

{Signed)  Antipas  Brigham. 

Westborough,  October  16,  1785. 

In  1793  Mr.  William  Johnson  was  granted  "land  for  a 
noon-house,  fifteen  feet  long  and  two  rod  wide ;  s'd  land 
is  beyond  ye  pound."  The  pound  stood  near  the  present 
site  of  Bates's  straw-factory.  Here  was  built  a  small  house, 
octagonal  in  shape,  with  a  generous  fireplace  in  it,  where 
those  who  came  to  church  from  a  distance  could  eat  their 
dinner  and  warm  themselves  after  the  long,  cold  service  in 
a  church  without  a  fire.  It  seems  to  have  been  removed 
afterward,  perhaps  in  18 15,  to  the  site  of  the  blacksmith's 
shop  across  the  railroad,  and  was  taken  down  in  1818,  after 
the  need  of  it  had  ceased. 

This  brings  us  to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century. 
We  have  seen  the  town  grow  from  its  first  beginnings  to 
comparative  prosperity  and  an  honorable  position  among 
the  towns  of  the  county.  If  it  has  had  less  share  than 
some  of  the  coast-towns  in  the  political  events  of  the  cen- 
tury, it  is  only  because  of  its  position  in  what  was  then  a 
remote  interior.  When  its  expression  of  opinion  in  regard 
to  the  pressing  issues  of  the  times  has  been  asked  for, 
it  has  been  expressed  with  no  uncertain  sound.  When 
action  or  sacrifice  has  been  called  for,  it  has  responded 
with  an  alacrity  and  a  devotion  to  the  common  weal  that 
need  fear  no  comparisons.  In  the  counsels  of  the  formative 
period  that  followed  the  Revolution  it  has  been  cool  and 
wise,  and  has  stood  fast  by  the  principles  of  civil  liberty. 


PERIOD   OF  TRANSITION.  20/ 

If  the  church  has  seemed  to  be  the  most  prominent  insti- 
tution of  the  town  throughout  the  preceding  pages,  it  is 
only  because  it  was  so  in  fact  and  in  the  thoughts  of  the 
men  and  women  of  that  time. 

We  come  now  to  a  period  of  more  rapid  progress  in 
material  affairs.  The  coaching  days  are  just  at  hand,  and 
the  railroad  is  not  far  off.  The  old  church,  which  has 
been  so  large  a  part  of  the  town,  is  soon  to  have  its  rivals. 
New  institutions,  the  institutions  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
are  coming;  business  is  to  find  its  entrance  to  a  wider 
sphere ;  and  rapid  changes  will  transform  the  Puritan  town 
into  the  New  England  village,  with  its  surrounding  farms. 
The  period  which  it  has  been  most  desirable  to  embalm 
in  a  permanent  record,  has  been  already  treated.  The 
more  modern  life  may  be  told  in  briefer  form,  for  the 
greater  part  of  it  is  not  beyond  the  reach  of  living 
memories. 


CHAPTER    XV. 

ITEMS    OF    PROGRESS.  —  ECCLESIASTICAL    TRIALS.  —  THE 
BEGINNING   OF   MODERN    IMPROVEMENTS. 

THE  beginning  of  the  new  century  saw  some  improve- 
ments in  the  equipment  of  the  town.     Samuel,  the 
twelfth  child  of  the   Rev.  Mr.  Parkman,  went  to  Boston 
and  entered  mercantile  life  there.     He  prospered  well ;  and 
in   1 80 1,  when  he  was  fifty  years  old,  he  remembered  his 
native  town  by  the  present  of  a  bell.     Thus  far  no  spire  or 
tower  of  any  kind  had  risen  above  the  humble  roofs  of  the 
village.     In   1722  the  town  had  voted,  evidently  in  a  some- 
what spiteful  temper,  not  to  build  a  steeple  on  the  meeting- 
house, and  not  to  do  it  even  without  expense  to  the  town. 
But  now  the  time  had   come  when  the  building  of  some 
kind  of  tower  was  not  merely  a  matter  of  vain  ornament, 
distressing  to  the  Puritan  soul,  but  a  sheer  necessity;   and 
without  more  discussion  the  town  voted.  May  4,  1801,  "to 
build  a  belfry,  or  steeple,  to  be  set  at  the  west  end  of  the 
meeting  house."     At  the  same  meeting  a  vote  of  thanks 
to  Mr.  Parkman  was  passed.     In  the  following  November 
rules  were   adopted    for   the    ringing  of  the  bell,  as    fol- 
lows :   "  On  Sabbath  day  morning  the  bell  to  ring  at  gyi 
o'clock ;   second  bell  at  twenty  minutes  past  ten  o'clock, 
to  ring  five  minutes;    then  stop  from  three  to  five  min- 
utes, or  till  the  minister  is  in  sight;  then  toll  till  he  gets 
into   the   pulpit."     This  tolling  of  the  bell,  which  is  now 
a  mere  customary  form,  was  then  the  measured  accom- 


NEW   FEATURES   IN  THE  MEETING-HOUSE.  209 

paniment  of  the  minister's  approach  to  his  pulpit,  and 
the  announcement  to  the  congregation,  at  its  beginning 
that  he  was  on  the  way,  and  by  its  cessation  that  he  had 
arrived  and  the  hour  of  solemnity  had  actually  begun. 

It  was  six  years  after  the  present  of  the  bell,  —  in  No- 
vember, 1807,  —  that  the  town  voted  leave  to  certain  indi- 
viduals to  ring  the  bell  every  night  at  nine  o'clock  at  their 
own  expense;  thus  originating  the  custom  that  has  come 
down  to  contemporary  times.  This  same  bell  is  now  in 
the  belfry  of  the  Baptist  church.  In  1837  the  old  meeting- 
house passed  into  private  ownership,  and  the  bell,  which 
really  belonged  by  gift  to  the  town,  was  sold  with  it.  The 
same  year  it  was  loaned  to  the  Baptists,  and  about  1849 
they  purchased  it. 

In  1806  a  clock  was  procured  by  individual  subscrip- 
tions and  presented  to  the  town.  This  also  went  with  the 
old  meeting-house  when  it  was  sold,  but  was  purchased  by 
the  town  in  1842,  and  put  in  the  new  town-hall. 

In  1809  there  began  to  be  talk  about  a  church  organ; 
and  at  length,  in  November  of  that  year,  the  town  voted 
"  that  Guardner  Parker  be  allowed  to  place  the  organ  in 
the  meeting-house  on  the  following  conditions;  viz.,  that 
said  Parker  be  allowed  to  cut  the  ends  of  the  seats  in  the 
front  Gallery  so  as  to  let  the  organ  in,  and  leave  room  for 
people  to  pass  into  their  seats ;  and  to  repair  the  same 
decently ;  the  organ  to  remain  there  six  months ;  then  if 
the  Town  does  not  like  to  have  it  remain  there  any  longer, 
said  Parker  is  to  take  it  away,  and  to  repair  and  make  good 
every  part  of  the  meeting-house  that  he  has  altered,  the 
same  as  before  any  alteration  w^as  made  as  aforesaid." 
This  was  a  very  early  introduction  of  the  organ  as  an  aid 
to  church  music,  and  Westborough  was  never  afterward 
without  one. 


210  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

A  military  company  was  organized  about  the  same  time, 
which  afterward  attained  to  some  local  fame,  and  con- 
tained in  its  ranks  some  of  the  cream  of  the  community. 
The  war  with  Great  Britain,  commonly  called  the  War  of 
1812,  began  soon  after,  and  the  company  was  ordered  to 
Boston.  It  was  still  in  camp  there  in  18 14,  and  some  im- 
portant church  meetings  had  to  be  postponed  on  account 
of  the  absence  of  prominent  members  who  belonged  to  the 
company. 

The  necessity  in  18 10  of  purchasing  a  new  burial-lot  is 
a  way-mark  in  the  growth  of  the  town.  The  one  lying 
between  South  and  School  streets  was  bought  in  that  year, 
and  was  the  principal  one  in  use  from  that  time  until  1844, 
when  the  present  cemetery  was  opened.  Thus  far  the 
only  burial-ground  for  the  later  Westborough,  or  for  the 
south  parish  of  the  old  town,  had  been  the  one  now  oppo- 
site the  town-hall.  This  dates  back  to  the  early  part  of 
the  seventeenth  century.  For  a  long  time  the  dead  were 
borne  to  their  resting-place  on  a  bier.  The  first  hearse, 
and  the  first  building  to  keep  it  in,  date  from  1801.  While 
Northborough  and  Westborough  were  one,  there  was  a 
common  burial-spot,  situated  near  the  present  North- 
borough  road,  on  the  first  cross-road  leading  to  the  right 
beyond  the  Westborough  line.  It  is  now  wholly  grown  up 
with  trees  and  underbrush ;  but  a  few  names  of  the  earlier 
settlers  can  still  be  read.  These  are  :  Mr.  Adam  Holloway, 
Sr.,  who  "Dec"*  June  ye  7th,  1733,  in  ye  80th  year  of  his 
age;"  Joseph  Wheeler,  his  wife  Elizabeth,  and  their  son 
Aaron,  all  of  whom  were  buried  in  1747  and  1748.  It  is  a 
pity  that  this  old  burial-place  should  be  left  to  the  rapid 
obliteration  of  time  and  neglect.  It  is  in  the  territory  of 
Northborough,  it  is  true;  but  Westborough  has  a  vital 
interest  in  it,  and  by  the  action  of  the  two  towns  some 


ECCLESIASTICAL  TRIALS.  211 

fitting  care  might  be  given  to  it,  by  which  its  preserva- 
tion to  future  generations  would  be  insured. 

The  other  old  cemetery,  opposite  the  town-hall,  has  had 
its  vicissitudes.  A  powder-house  was  built  in  the  corner 
of  it  in  1818,  and  stood  there  till  1849.  Another  building, 
originally  the  school-house  of  the  first  district,  has  been 
erected  within  its  Hmits,  and  its  original  boundaries  have 
been  changed  in  other  ways.  Not  far  from  the  time 
of  the  building  of  the  powder-house  it  was  proposed  to 
cut  down  the  oak-trees  for  firewood;  but  Mr.  Charles 
Parkman  earned  the  thanks  of  succeeding  generations  by 
purchasing  the  trees  himself,  and  giving  them  as  a  sacred 
legacy  to  posterity.  At  a  later  day  many  of  the  old  stones 
were  removed  from  the  graves  they  marked,  and  piled 
up  in  the  rear  corner  of  the  lot,  —  to  the  great  regret  of 
all  good  citizens.  The  recent  formation  of  an  Historical 
Society  in  the  town  is  the  best  assurance  yet  presented 
that  all  such  valuable  relics  of  the  past  shall  have  due 
respect  paid  them  in  the  future. 

It  was  in  the  first  years  of  the  new  century  that  both  the 
church  and  the  town  were  greatly  disturbed  by  a  conflict 
which  was  peculiar  to  the  time  when  ministers  were  settled 
for  life,  and  owned  their  freehold.  Mr.  John  Robinson  had 
been  installed  in  1789,  as  we  have  seen,  with  great  cere- 
mony. Thereafter  very  little  is  recorded  of  him  until  the 
outbreak  of  great  dissatisfaction  in  1806.  He  lacked  both 
the  wisdom  and  the  spirit  of  his  honored  predecessor,  and 
proved  at  last  the  worst  investment  the  town  had  ever  made. 
The  origin  of  the  difficulty  lay  in  his  very  outspoken  utter- 
ances on  political  subjects  when  party  spirit  was  running 
high.  After  the  Revolution  there  came  to  be  a  good  deal 
of  difference  of  opinion  as  to  the  basis  of  popular  gov- 
ernment.    There  were  those  who  felt  the   necessity  of  a 


212  EARLY  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Strongly  centralized  government,  with  abundant  power  to 
enforce  order;  while,  on  the  other  hand,  a  large  portion  of 
the  people,  having  had  the  taste  of  a  broader  liberty,  were 
inclined  to  emphasize  State  rights  and  more  popular  rule. 
Washington,  Adams,  and  Hamilton  represented  the  former, 
and  their  party  came  to  wear  the  name  of  "  Federalists  ; " 
while  the  opposing  party,  of  whom  the  most  prominent 
representative  was  Jefferson,  was  called,  first  Republican, 
and  afterward  Democratic.  The  period  was  one  of  much 
political  turmoil.  The  French  Revolution  began  in  the 
year  1789,  and  its  influence  was  felt  far  and  wide.  In  1801 
Jefferson  was  chosen  President,  and  the  Democrats  became 
the  party  in  power.  Four  years  later,  when  he  was  re- 
turned for  a  second  term,  there  was  naturally  a  good  deal 
of  excitement.  It  was  in  this  year,  at  a  town  meeting  or  a 
popular  gathering  on  the  Fourth  of  July,  that  parson  Rob- 
inson destroyed  his  influence  over  the  good  people  of  West- 
borough.  In  a  strong  speech,  not  marked  for  self-restraint, 
he  advocated  stiff  FederaHst  opinions,  and  paid  his  respects 
to  the  Democrats  in  language  unmistakable,  calling  them, 
among  other  things,  "  knights  of  the  halter."  The  major- 
ity were  probably  his  political  opponents,  and  the  others 
saw  that  he  had  gone  too  far.  There  followed  a  sharp  de- 
bate/r<?  and  C071 ;  but  the  deed  was  done,  and  the  parson's 
fate  was  settled.  They  did  not  move  with  rapidity  in  those 
days,  especially  against  a  minister  of  the  Gospel ;  but  in 
December,  1806,  a  petition,  signed  by  twenty-nine  men, 
was  presented  in  town-meeting,  looking  toward  his  dismis- 
sion. The  town  forthwith  appointed  a  committee  to  wait 
on  him  and  ascertain  on  what  terms  he  would  agree  to 
leave;  for  in  those  days  the  people  were  accustomed  to 
put  themselves  under  contract  to  keep  and  support  their 
minister  until  he  died,  and  they  could  only  get  rid  of  him 


ECCLESIASTICAL  TRIALS.  213 

thereafter  by  his  own  consent.  But  in  this  instance  the 
minister  fell  somewhat  unwarily  into  the  trap  by  promptly 
naming  his  terms,  which  were  as  promptly  accepted;  and 
as  a  venerable  citizen,  who  remembered  the  excitement  in 
his  youthful  days,  once  said  to  me,  "he  was  forthwith  made 
to  sign  his  own  warrant  for  dismission."  He  was  to  be 
regularly  dismissed  by  council  in  nine  months ;  he  was  to 
retain  his  "  settlement  money,"  which  was  i!^20o;  and  he 
was  to  receive  his  salary  to  the  end  of  his  time  of  service. 
The  town  indorsed  the  action  of  the  committee  in  accept- 
ing his  terms,  and  then,  at  a  meeting  held  Jan.  8,  1807, 
asked  the  church,  which  had  as  yet  taken  no  action,  to 
concur.  After  a  good  deal  of  delay  it  did  so  in  the  follow- 
ing September,  and  the  town  hastened  to  support  its  ac- 
tion by  a  very  large  majority.  The  dismissing  council  was 
appointed  for  the  ist  of  October  following,  and  advised  the 
confirmation  of  the  action  already  taken.  On  the  same 
day  the  church  gave  a  formal  letter  of  dismission  to  Mr. 
Robinson  and  his  wife,  which  was  signed  "  John  Robinson, 
pastor,  in  the  name  and  by  a  vote  of  the  brethren ;  "  and 
the  pastor  formally  "  signified  his  acquiescence  with  the 
Church  and  Town  in  his  dismission  from  the  work  of  the 
Gospel  Ministry  in  this  place."  At  half-past  eleven  in 
the  morning  the  church,  having  transacted  this  business, 
adjourned  till  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  council 
was  still  in  session  when  they  reassembled,  but  in  due 
time  came  in  with  its  report,  as  thus  chronicled  in  the 
records : — 

At  half  past  three  o'clock  p.  m.  October  the  first,  One  Thou- 
sand Eight  Hundred  and  seven,  the  Council  went  into  the  Meet- 
ing House,  where  the  result  of  the  Council  was  read,  and  the 
Moderator  of  the  Council  called  upon  the  Church  to  know  if 
they  accepted  the  result  of  the  Council,  which  passed  in  the 


214  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

affirmative.     He  then  asked  the  pastor  if  he  acquiesced,  which 
he  signified  that  he  did. 

Attest :    John  Robinson,  Pastor. 

So  ended  the  first  act  in  the  Robinson  drama,  and  the 
people  breathed  freely,  not  knowing  the  sequel. 

No  very  long  time  intervened  between  the  dismission 
of  Mr.  Robinson  and  the  settlement  of  the  Rev.  Elisha 
Rockwood,  whose  memory  remains  in  honor  to  this 
day,  and  whose  pastorate  was  the  last  which  was  con- 
nected with  the  official  action  of  the  town.  He  was  called 
in  May,  1808.  The  town,  having  concurred  with  the 
church  in  extending  the  call,  appointed  a  committee  to 
see  what  "encouragement"  it  would  be  proper  for  the 
town  to  give  him.  They  offered  him,  for  the  first  year, 
$1,000,  and  for  his  annual  salary  thereafter  $600.  And 
then,  with  painful  remembrance  of  the  recent  troubles, 
they  tried  to  provide  against  their  recurrence  by  inserting 
a  proviso  in  the  call  that  he  "  shall  take  up  his  connection 
with  this  people  whenever  two  thirds  of  the  voters  shall 
request  it,  and  have  the  right  to  leave  the  people  when  he 
chooses,  on  condition  of  refunding  to  the  town  $400," 
the  amount  of  "  settlement  money,"  twelve  months*  notice 
being  required  in  either  case.  But  in  July  this  action  was 
wisely  revoked,  and  the  settlement  made  without  limita- 
tion. In  September  he  sent  a  favorable  reply,  and  prepa- 
rations began  for  the  ordination,  which,  as  before,  was  to 
be  "an  high  day."  It  was  to  be  on  the  26th  of  October; 
and  the  town  appointed  a  committee  "  to  preserve  order 
and  to  secure  the  meeting  house"  against  damage.  In 
addition  to  the  features  of  previous  occasions,  a  band  of 
music  was  engaged,  which  preceded  the  procession  from 
the  hotel  to  the  church,  opening  ranks  on  arrival  at  the 
church  for  the  passage  of  the  dignitaries. 


ECCLESIASTICAL  TRIALS.  21  5 

The  pastorate  of  Mr.  Rockwood,  though  eminently  suc- 
cessful, was  destined  to  have  serious  disturbances.  The 
first  came  in  the  shape  of  a  sequel  to  the  Robinson 
episode.  This  crabbed  member  of  the  church  militant, 
angry  that  another  should  have  his  place,  tried  to  wreak 
a  petty  and  puerile  vengeance  on  the  young  pastor.  In 
1 8 14  the  matter  became  so  serious  that  Deacon  Chamber- 
lain presented  charges  before  the  church,  calling  for  an 
ecclesiastical  trial  of  the  former  pastor.  The  record  is  as 
follows :  — 

18  r4,  Aug.  10. 

After  lecture  the  church  was  stayed  to  hear  a  communication, 
of  which  the  following  is  a  copy  :  — 

"  Westboro',  August  8th,  1814. 
*'  To  the  Chh.  of  Christ  in  Westboroiigh. 

"  It  is  with  deep  regret  that  the  conduct  of  Mr.  John  Robin- 
son, once  Pastor  of  the  Chh.  of  Christ  in  VVestborough,  hath  been 
such  as  to  constrain  the  Subscriber  to  state  to  you  the  following 
misdemeanors  and  offences  against  the  rules  of  Christianity 
which  he  hath  been  guilty  of. 

"  I.  Of  writing  &  sending  me  two  Letters  which  were  highly 
abusive  not  only  to  me,  but  to  the  Chh.  and  others,  &  were  inde- 
cent and  unchristian,  for  the  particulars  of  which,  I  refer  to  the 
letters,  one  dated  December  9th,  1809,  and  the  other  Feb.  19, 
1810. 

"  2.  Of  incommoding  Mrs.  Chamberlain  in  her  own  seat  in  time 
of  public  worship,  &  by  rude  &  indecent  behaviour  in  the  house 
of  God  in  time  of  Public  worship  at  sundry  times ;  insulting 
&  disturbing  Judge  Brigham's  family  &  others  in  time  of  public 
worship  by  his  behaviour  in  the  hind  seat,  after  having  been 
repeatedly  requested  to  desist;  in  disturbing  the  wife  of  Mr. 
David  Fay  at  the  communion  in  February  last ;  of  making 
unnecessary  disturbance  in  time  of  public  worship  by  scraping 
or  thumping  his  shoes  or  boots  by  the  side  of  his  pew  before  he 
entered  in,  so  as  to  cause  the  speaker  to  stop  at  two  different 


2l6  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

times  in  the  month  of  February  last ;  Of  making  a  disturbance 
in  time  of  Public  worship  by  stepping  out  of  his  pew  into  the 
broad  alley,  and  with  his  tools  making  a  place  for  his  inkstand 
on  the  19th  of  June  last. 

"  3.  His  uniformly  attending  public  worship  at  a  very  late  hour. 

"  For  these  offences,  which  are  all  aggravated  by  the  consid- 
eration of  the  office  he  once  sustained  in  the  church,  every  lover 
of  the  rules  of  Christianity  &  friend  of  Chh.  discipline  has  rea- 
son to  be  offended  and  grieved." 

{Signed)  Daniel  Chamberlain. 

All  the  charges  were  sustained  in  the  trial  by  a  vote  of 
about  twenty  to  one  or  two.  There  was  no  doubt  what- 
ever about  their  correctness,  and  there  seems  to  have  been 
no  more  than  one,  besides  the  redoubtable  Robinson  him- 
self, —  who  was  present  at  the  meetings  and  voted  on  his 
own  case,  —  who  cared  to  oppose  the  verdict.  All  regard 
for  the  man  had  long  since  vanished,  and  not  even  the 
deep  respect  which  at  that  time  prevailed  for  the  office  he 
had  formerly  held  availed  much  in  his  behalf.  It  is  related 
on  the  authority  of  a  venerable  man,  not  long  since  de- 
ceased, who  as  a  boy  was  an  interested  witness  of  these 
proceedings,  that  at  a  town-meeting  held  in  one  of  these 
years  the  question  of  keeping  the  organ  in  church  came 
up;  whereupon  one  citizen  remarked  that  he  had  noticed 
that  Mr.  Robinson,  who  hated  the  organ,  never  came  to 
meeting  till  the  first  singing  was  over,  and  always  left 
before  the  last  hymn,  —  and  he  was  of  opinion  that  an 
instrument  that  had  the  power  of  casting  out  devils  was 
worth  keeping.  The  town  seemed  to  agree  with  him,  at 
least  so  far  as  to  retain  the  instrument.  During  his  trial 
before  the  church,  which  lasted  some  time,  Robinson  was 
twice  requested  by  the  church  to  refrain  from  partaking  of 
the  sacrament.  He  paid  no  attention  to  the  request,  and 
was  at  length  peremptorily  refused  the  bread  and  wine; 


ECCLESIASTICAL  TRIALS.  21/ 

whereupon,  nothing  daunted,  he  brought  his  own,  and  had 
a  meal  by  himself.  At  last,  after  a  weary  time  and  many 
church  meetings,  he  made  a  "  sort  of  oral  confession," 
which  was  not  satisfactory  to  the  church,  but  which,  being 
revised  at  a  later  meeting,  was  accepted.  On  the  iith  of 
December,  1 8 14,  his  letter  of  confession  and  a  letter  of 
admonition  were  read  in  public,  and  the  church  took  a 
long  breath.  Some  time  after  this  he  removed  to  Leba- 
non, Conn.,  and  the  trouble  seemed  to  be  well  over.  But 
it  was  only  a  treacherous  lull  in  the  storm.  In  18 18  the 
church  received  a  letter  from  the  church  in  Lebanon,  de- 
clining to  accept  him  on  the  strength  of  a  letter  from  this 
church,  on  account  of  his  conduct  while  with  them.  Then 
came  a  desperate  effort  to  get  rid  of  the  business ;  the 
Lebanon  church  insisting  that  the  Westborough  church 
must  discipline  him,  and  the  Westborough  church  throw- 
ing back  the  responsibility  on  the  other.  Finally  the  mat- 
ter was  taken  before  the  Consociation  of  Windham  County, 
Conn.,  and  then  before  the  Harmony  Conference  in  this 
county ;  and  it  was  decided  that  Westborough  must  dis- 
cipline him.  Then,  with  the  taste  of  the  old  experience 
still  in  their  mouths,  the  church  began  to  prepare  for  the 
unpleasant  task,  when,  to  their  infinite  relief,  they  received 
a  letter  from  Lebanon  saying  that  the  respondent,  prob- 
ably remembering  too  well  his  former  experience  here,  had 
made  confession  and  been  received  to  membership,  adding 
that  the  matter  was  satisfactory  to  Lebanon  if  it  was  to 
Westborough.  The  church  in  Westborough  voted,  with 
some  emphasis,  that  it  was  satisfactory;  and  the  clerk 
added,  with  pious  exultation  :  "  Thus  happily  was  this  try- 
ing case  terminated  ;  and  to  the  Great  Head  of  the  Church 
belongs  the  praise  !  " 

Meantime  the  church  had  been  rising  to  a  new  position 


2l8  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

and  a  new  life  under  Mr.  Rockwood's  earnest  efforts. 
After  the  departure  of  his  tormentor  to  Connecticut  the 
pastor,  feeling  somewhat  as  the  Master  did  when  Judas  had 
gone  out,  called  the  church  together  and  instituted  special 
prayers  and  efforts,  which  were  not  fruitless  in  the  coming 
years.  It  was  in  1816  also  that  another  modern  feature 
of  church  life  was  initiated  by  a  few  young  ladies.  They 
had  endeavored  to  interest  the  church  in  the  matter  of  a 
Sunday-school,  but  were  met  with  general  and  violent  op- 
position. Only  the  pastor  and  two  of  the  brethren  —  one 
of  whom  was  Breck  Parkman — gave  them  any  aid  or  com- 
fort. But  they  were  not  disheartened,  and  the  next  year 
they  determined  to  make  a  beginning.  Mr.  Parkman 
offered  them  a  room  in  his  house,  and  at  the  first  appoint- 
ment they  found  seventy  pupils  waiting;  and  the  enter- 
prise was  assured,  in  spite  of  the  unreasoning  opposition 
of  the  conservative  church.  It  was  long  before  the  church 
approved, —  longer  before  it  assumed  the  school  as  a  part 
of  its  own  work ;  but  the  institution  had  come  to  stay,  and 
its  adoption  was  only  a  question  of  time. 

In  1827  there  was  a  little  discussion  in  the  church  on 
the  new  question  of  temperance  in  drink,  and  in  March 
it  voted  to  use  no  more  ardent  spirits  at  funerals  or  at  ordi- 
nary social  visits,  and  that  it  would  use  its  influence  to 
prevent  the  immoderate  use  of  liquor.  That  was  radical 
action  for  those  days.  In  1832  the  town  followed  suit,  in- 
dulging itself  in  the  mild  self-denial  of  refusing  any  longer 
to  furnish  rum  to  its  paupers,  except  on  a  physician's  pre- 
scription. Three  years  later  it  took  a  step  so  radical  for 
that  day  as  to  need  explanation,  by  refusing  to  grant  licen- 
ses to  sell  liquor  at  retail  or  in  public-houses. 

An  event  that  was  for  a  time  of  great  importance  was 
the  building  of  the  Boston  and  Worcester  turnpike  in  18 10. 


(ofuvtSu  (yCf/rn/?7v<xrz^, 


THE  BEGINNING   OF   MODERN   IMPROVEMENTS.       219 

It  took  its  course,  like  all  the  turnpikes  of  that  period,  in  a 
bee-line  toward  its  point  of  destination,  passing  over  all 
the  hills,  and  scorning  all  obstacles.  Its  coming  made 
an  era,  —  the  era  of  the  stage-coach  and  the  wayside 
tavern.  Scores  of  coaches  used  to  rattle  by  in  a  single 
day  along  these  great  through  lines,  and  the  bustle  and 
excitement  at  the  baiting-places  was  great.  It  brought  the 
outside  world,  with  all  its  news  and  budgets,  past  the  little 
towns  that  had  lived  without  it  for  so  long.  The  earliest 
tavern  in  Westborough  was  at  the  corner  of  the  turnpike 
and  what  is  now  Lyman  Street.  In  1827  Captain  Wesson 
built  another,  not  far  from  the  site  of  the  old  meeting- 
house ;  and  for  a  time  it  looked  as  if  the  old  Chauncy  was 
to  be  revived,  under  the  less  euphonious  name  of  "  Wes- 
sonville."  Not  long  afterward,  Nathan  A.  Fisher  built  a 
thread-factory  near  by.  and  Fisher  &  Lothrop  opened 
a  "  store."  Heretofore  business  had  been  carried  on  on 
a  very  small  scale.  The  earliest  village  store  was  started 
by  Breck  Parkman,  the  eleventh  child  of  the  old  minister, 
who  was  born  on  the  27th  of  January,  1749.  When  he 
arrived  at  man's  estate  he  built  a  small  structure  be- 
tween the  meeting-house  and  the  parsonage,  living  in 
one  part  of  it  and  conducting  a  small  business  in  the 
other.  This  building  is  still  in  existence,  on  South  Street, 
and  is  occupied  by  Patrick  Chronican. 

Mr.  Parkman  afterward  built  a  new  house  for  himself, 
and  converted  the  whole  of  the  old  one  into  a  store,  which 
was  at  a  later  time  removed  a  little  way  up  Summer 
Street.  This  new  house,  afterward  enlarged  and  raised  to 
three  stories,  is  now  the  rear  building  of  D.  W.  Forbes's 
sleigh-factory.  Subsequently  Breck  Parkman  and  Judge 
Brigham  built  the  store  on  the  south  side  of  Main  Street 
(the  old  building  now  in  the  rear  of  S.  M.  Griggs  &  Co.'s 


220  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

block),  and  removed  the  business  there.  After  their  sons 
became  of  age  they  dissolved  partnership,  and  Mr.  Park- 
man  built  the  old  store  formerly  on  the  site  of  Post- 
office  Block,  where  he  and  his  sons  transacted  business 
for  many  years.  A  hotel  was  built  at  the  centre  in  the 
early  part  of  the  century,  on  the  site  of  the  present 
Westborough  Hotel,  and  was  enlarged  in  1824.  It  was 
first  known  as  '*  Gregory's  Inn,"  and  was  kept  by  Capt. 
Daniel  Gregory,  whose  daughter  became  the  wife  of 
Lowell  Mason.  It  was  afterward  kept  for  a  long  time 
by  Dexter  Brigham. 

It  was  quite  early  in  the  history  of  business  growth 
that  "  Piccadilly,"  on  the  Hopkinton  road,  came  into  promi- 
nence as  a  manufacturing  point,  —  owing  to  the  existence 
of  a  good  water  power,  —  and  for  a  time  vied  with  the  centre 
of  the  town  in  importance.  But  at  the  time  of  the  staging 
excitement  both  Piccadilly  and  the  centre  seemed  likely 
to  become  secondary  to  Wessonville.  So  long,  indeed, 
as  the  meeting-house  was  at  the  centre,  it  would  remain 
the  gathering  place  for  one  day  in  the  week,  and  retain  a 
dignity  that  other  sections  lacked.  But  during  the  six 
working  days  it  could  not  successfully  compete  with  its 
rival  farther  north.  It  was  off  the  stage  route,  and  its 
quiet  was  unbroken.  It  only  heard,  far  away,  the  rattle 
of  busy  life.  There  were  both  trade  and  manufacture  at 
the  new  centre,  but  even  the  gossips  had  no  more  use  for 
the  old  store,  since  all  the  news  had  gone  away.  For  a 
good  while  this  change  seemed  likely  to  be  permanent; 
but  at  last,  in  1835,  a  strange  iron  horse  went  roaring 
past  between  the  old  meeting-house  and  the  parsonage, 
the  rattle  of  wheels  and  the  crack  of  the  whip  died  out 
along  the  turnpike,  and  the  glory  of  Wessonville  faded. 
The    centre    regained  its  natural  advantages,  with  all  the 


BEGINNING   OF  THE  TOWN'S   SECULAR   LIFE.         221 

added   opportunities  which  the  railroad  brought,  and  the 
modern  era  had  fairly  begun   at  last. 

Meantime,  in  1825,  the  town  ceased  to  act  as  an  eccle- 
siastical parish,  and  the  First  Congregational  Society  was 
organized  on  the  14th  of  March.  E.  M.  Phillips  was  the 
first  clerk.  The  first  recorded  business  had  relation  to  the 
heating  of  the  meeting-house,  which  thus  far  had  been 
guiltless  of  stoves.  Steps  were  taken  toward  putting  them 
in  soon  after  this;  but  the  evident  necessity  of  a  new 
meeting-house  at  an  early  day  put  a  stop  to  the  proceed- 
ings, and  the  good  people  still  went  cold  in  church,  except 
for  the  feeble  help  obtained  from  foot-stoves. 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

1830-1860. 

BUSINESS  DEVELOPMENT.  —  THE  DIFFUSION  OF 
INTELLIGENCE. 

'HPHE  coming  of  the  railroad,  and  the  consequent  in- 
-^  crease  of  business  and  manufacture,  marks  the  be- 
ginning of  a  new  era ;  and  the  period  of  which  we  have 
tried  to  tell  the  story  is  rapidly  drawing  to  a  close. 
There  will  be  no  more  pioneer  life.  The  quiet  seclusion 
of  the  little  town  is  broken  up.  The  dominant  influence 
of  the  old  church  is  no  longer  possible,  and  already  there 
are  the  beginnings  of  schism.  No  more  will  the  old-time 
parson  rule  his  flock  from  his  pulpit  as  from  a  throne: 
his  gown  and  wig  are  gone;  his  veto  power  has  per- 
ished ;  the  sceptre  has  fallen  from  his  hands ;  and  he 
is  become  as  other  men.  The  old  fireplaces  that  con- 
sumed so  royally  their  forty  cords  of  wood  a  year  are 
vanishing,  and  will  soon  be  only  a  thing  to  tell  of  The 
bad  spelling  is  going  out  of  the  records,  and  the  flavor 
of  the  ancient  days  is  departing.  The  old  meeting-house 
will  soon  be  only  "  The  Old  Arcade ; "  bell  and  clock 
and  tower  will  disappear;  the  very  porches  will  be  car- 
ried off",  to  be  transformed  into  dwellings,  and  the  habits 
of  a  hundred  years  will  sufi*er  change.  Of  the  modern 
town  another  will  speak  ;  our  concern  has  only  been  with 
that  vanishing  period  which,  unless  its  memories  are 
speedily  embalmed  in  some  permanent  form,  will  be- 
come an  unknown  era. 


BUSINESS   DEVELOPMENT.  223 

But  there  are  still  a  few  things  to  be  noted  before  we 
close  the  record.  The  railroad  was  built  as  far  as  West- 
borough  in  1834.  The  next  July  it  was  formally  opened, 
and  two  fussy  little  engines,  of  English  manufacture,  or 
at  any  rate  in  the  English  style,  drew  the  train  of  twelve 
cars,  filled  with  the  directors  and  stockholders,  from  Bos- 
ton to  Worcester.  The  trip  took  three  hours.  The  cars 
were  small  coaches  of  English  pattern,  with  doors  at  the 
sides,  and  of  light  draught.  One  of  the  original  con- 
ductors of  the  road,  Thomas  Tucker,  was  still  living  in 
Westborough  but  a  few  years  ago. 

The  location  of  the  railroad  seriously  interfered  with 
the  usefulness  of  the  old  meeting-house.  The  society 
demanded  $1,000  damages  for  the  land  taken  and  other 
disadvantages,  but  were  unable  to  get  so  much.  Other 
influences  were  also  at  work  which  hastened  its  disuse. 
Differences  of  theological  opinion  had  for  some  time 
been  assuming  threatening  proportions,  and  before  the 
railroad  came,  another  ecclesiastical  society  had  been  or- 
ganized. As  early  as  1831  there  had  been  some  action 
taken  toward  the  building  of  a  new  house;  but  the  di- 
vided state  of  feeling  rendered  it  impossible.  In  March, 
1832,  a  vote  was  passed  to  sell  the  old  meeting-house, 
and  a  committee,  of  which  Otis  Brigham  was  chairman, 
was  appointed  to  carry  the  vote  into  effect.  A  year 
later  there  were  some  carefully  prepared  proposals  from 
Charles  Parkman  for  the  building  of  a  house  at  his  ex- 
pense, to  be  afterward  conveyed  to  the  society  on  speci- 
fied conditions,  one  of  which  was  that  the  choice  of  a 
minister  should  always  be  determined  by  the  vote  of 
pews,  each  pew  having  one  vote.  This,  in  the  dispute 
whether  the  Unitarians  should  be  allowed  a  share  in  the 
supply  of  the  pulpit,  was  too  significant,  and  the  meet- 


224  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

ing  adjourned  without  action.  The  following  year,  when 
the  division  of  the  society  had  been  consummated,  the 
First  Society  voted  to  accept  $15  a  year  from  the  town 
for  the  use  of  the  meeting-house  for  town  meetings,  to 
pay  part  of  the  expense  of  ringing  the  bell,  taking  care 
of  the  clock,  etc.  This  year  stoves  were  actually  put 
into  the  old  house,  which  continued  to  be  the  place  of 
worship  of  the  First  Society  till  1837,  when  it  was  sold 
to  Luther  Chamberlain. 

The  business  of  the  place  felt  the  coming  of  the  rail- 
road and  its  facilities  at  once,  though  it  did  not  increase 
with  the  rapidity  of  later  times.  In  1833  John  A.  Fayer- 
weather  opened  a  store  in  the  Elijah  Burnap  house,  and 
a  year  later  started  a  stove  and  tin  shop  on  the  site  of 
the  present  Unitarian  church.  In  1836  he  removed  his 
variety  store  to  the  old  Parkman  building,  on  the  north 
side  of  Main  Street,  and  continued  to  do  business  there, 
with  various  changes  in  the  firm,  until  1858.  It  greatly 
astonished  the  good  people  of  that  day  when  Mr.  Fayer- 
weather,  in  the  first  store  he  opened,  undertook  to  sell 
meal.  It  was  an  unheard-of  thing  that  any  one  should 
think  of  buying  meal  anywhere  but  at  the  mill.  Every- 
body said  it  would  be  a  failure  ;  but  it  proved  a  great 
convenience,  and  soon  superseded  the  old  way. 

The  boot  and  shoe  business  was  begun  here  in  1828  by 
J.  B.  Kimball  &  Co.,  whose  first  shop  was  on  the  land 
of  Major  Fayerweather,  near  the  Whitney  place.  About 
1836  they  built  the  brick  shop  at  the  corner  of  Main  and 
Milk  streets,  where  their  business  remained  till  1859.  In 
1844  the  lower  part  of  this  shop  was  converted  into  a 
store,  and  occupied  by  W.  L.  G.  Hunt,  afterward  by  Fay 
&  Brigham,  Warner  &  Brigham,  Oulton  &  Peters,  Homan 
&  Peters,  Homan  &  Child,  etc.     In  1840  Daniel  F.  Newton 


BUSINESS  DEVELOPMENT.  22$ 

began  to  manufacture  boots  and  shoes  in  the  factory  on 
Cross  Street,  employing,  mostly  out  of  the  shop,  some 
three  to  four  hundred  workmen,  and  continuing  the  busi- 
ness there  for  twenty  years.  In  1858  George  B.  Brigham, 
who  had  been  superintendent  in  Newton's  factory  for 
eight  years,  began  to  manufacture  for  himself,  —  as  he 
still  continues  to  do,  though  with  far  different  methods 
and  facilities  from  those  in  vogue  when  he  began.  His 
first  factory  was  on  Milk  Street. 

Sleighs  had  been  manufactured  here  for  a  long  time, 
in  a  small  way;  but  the  first  large  building  for  the  pur- 
pose dates  from  1857,  and  business  was  begun  in  it  by 
the  firm  of  Burnap,  Forbes  &  Co.,  who  made  about  five 
hundred  sleighs  a  year. 

As  early  as  1836  some  movement  was  made  toward 
the  providing  of  a  town-hall.  The  old  meeting-house 
was  still  in  use ;  but  as  the  First  Society  was  anxious  to 
sell  it,  some  substitute  had  to  be  provided.  There  was 
some  delay  before  the  enterprise  could  be  undertaken, 
but  in  1839  it  was  voted  to  put  up  a  building  of  one 
story,  with  a  basement  of  brick.  The  work  proceeded 
at  once,  though  it  was  not  until  1842  that  the  hall  was 
ready  for  occupancy,  A  bell  and  a  clock  were  needed, 
and  Otis  Brigham,  Abijah  Stone,  and  Gardner  Cloyes 
were  appointed  a  committee  to  provide  them.  The  old 
meeting-house  clock  was  to  be  bought,  "  if  it  can  be  had 
for  money,"  and  a  bell  must  not  cost  over  ;^300.  The 
old  clock  had  been  sold  in  1837,  with  the  old  meeting- 
house, to  Luther  Chamberlain,  and  the  old  bell  hung  in 
the  belfry  of  the  new  Baptist  church  near  by.  The  old 
clock  was  finally  repurchased,  and  a  new  bell  procured, 
which  still  does  duty  melodiously. 

In  1832  an  attempt  was  made  to  carry  a  vote  to  pro- 


226  EARLY  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

cure  a  fire-engine ;  but  none  was  purchased  until  March, 
1839,  for  which  room  was  provided  in  the  basement  of 
the  town-hall.  The  town  subscribed  $200  toward  this 
engine,  provided  $200  more  was  raised  by  subscription. 
It  was  a  small  affair,  but  lasted  till  the  Chauncy  engine 
was  purchased,  in  1850. 

The  progress  of  education  since  1836,  when  the  school 
districts  were  adopted  in  their  modern  form,  has  been 
marked.  There  was  still  for  a  time  some  indifference  to 
the  matter  in  the  town  meetings,  as  there  always  has 
been  on  the  part  of  a  section  of  the  community;  and  as 
late  as  1844  there  is  recorded  a  refusal  to  have  a  gram- 
mar-school, for  the  lack  of  which  the  town  had  been 
"  presented  "  nearly  a  hundred  years  before.  But  this 
was  evidently  only  the  last  struggle  of  the  conservative 
element  against  the  rising  tide  of  popular  intelligence; 
for  ten  years  later  the  high  school  came,  at  first  as  an 
ungraded  school,  but  affording,  nevertheless,  advanced 
opportunities. 

As  early  as  1839  the  better  class  of  people  had  en- 
deavored to  provide  for  their  children  within  the  limits 
of  the  town ;  and  the  '*  Westborough  School  Associa- 
tion "  was  formed,  to  provide  better  facilities  than  the 
town  was  ready  to  supply.  They  started  a  school,  first 
at  the  centre,  and  afterward  at  the  old  Wesson  tavern, 
which  was  refitted  for  the  purpose.  This  school  con- 
tinued for  a  good  while,  and  had   a  high   reputation. 

Other  means  of  culture  and  the  diffusion  of  intelli- 
gence began  to  come  in  with  the  growth  of  the  century. 
The  beginnings  of  the  town  library  date  back  to  the  early 
part  of  the  century.  It  was  in  1807  that  a  few  of  the 
leading  men  of  the  town,  feeling  the  need  of  some  lit- 
erary privileges,  began  to  raise  the  question  of  a  library. 


LIBRARY.  '227 

Fifteen  of  them  met,  on  the  25th  of  March,  at  '*  Greg- 
ory's Inn,"  and  organized  "The  Union  Library  Society." 
The  Rev.  EHsha  Rockwood,  who  came  to  the  town  in  the 
following  year,  took  a  great  interest  in  the  organization, 
and  was  president  of  it  from  181 1  to  1828.  It  was 
scarcely  a  popular  society,  its  admission  fees  ranging 
from  $5-50  to  $15.  Its  rules  of  admission  and  its  de- 
crees in  regard  to  the  care  of  books  were  very  strict. 
Books  were  scarce  and  costly  even  then,  as  compared 
with  the  present  time,  and  readers  were  much  fewer. 
Persons  not  members  were  allowed  the  use  of  books  at 
the  reasonable  rate  of  $2.00  a  year.  Meetings  were  held 
at  first  five  times  a  year.  Funds  were  raised  by  the  fees 
above  mentioned,  and  by  a  tax  of  twenty-five  cents  as- 
sessed on  the  members  at  each  meeting.  Mr.  Charles 
Parkman  presented  several  volumes  to  the  society,  and 
it  purchased  in  addition  the  following:  "  Rees'  Cyclo- 
paedia," in  forty-one  volumes;  "  Mavor's  Voyages  and 
Travels  ;  "  "  The  Life  of  Washington,"  by  Bancroft ; 
**  The  Life  of  Washington,"  by  Marshall,  in  six  volumes, 
with  atlas;  two  volumes  "  Silliman's  Journal;"  "  SilH- 
man's  Tour,"  and  "  Dwight's  Travels."  This  society 
lasted  until  1839,  when  it  was  merged  in  the  Mechanics' 
Association. 

The  latter  was  organized  in  1838,  after  manufactures 
had  obtained  a  strong  footing;  preceding  the  Mechan- 
ics' Association  of  Worcester  by  four  years.  It  had  on 
its  rolls  at  the  outset  forty-six  names.  It  purposed  to 
have  lecture-courses,  as  well  as  a  library,  and  discussions 
upon  current  topics.  Mr.  George  Denny  gave  it  $40, 
and  in  a  year  from  its  organization  it  had  raised  $86 
more  toward  a  library.  In  this  same  year  the  Union 
Library  Society  made  over  its  books  and  property  to  the 


228  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

new  association,  on  condition  that  such  books  as  needed 
it  should  be  rebound,  and  that  the  members  of  the  old 
organization  should  be  allowed  to  draw  books  without  a 
fee.  Ten  years  later  the  library  contained  four  hundred 
and  seventy-five  volumes,  and  printed  its  first  catalogue. 
In  1857  the  library  was  transferred  to  the  town,  and  has 
since  been  supported  by  an  annual  appropriation. 

The  same  year,  1839,  saw  the  beginning  of  the  West- 
borough  Agricultural  Society ;  the  farmers  seeing  no  rea- 
son why  they  should  not  keep  abreast  of  the  mechanics 
in  the  means  of  information  and  discussion.  The  pre- 
liminary meeting  is  stated  in  the  history  of  the  society 
to  have  been  "  accidental ;  "  but  it  was  united  in  the  opin- 
ion that  meetings  for  mutual  discussion  would  be  profi- 
table, and  Nahum  Fisher  was  thereupon  chosen  chairman 
of  the  meeting,  and  George  Denny  secretary.  Commit- 
tees were  at  once  appointed,  and  measures  taken  for 
organization ;  and  in  a  few  months  the  society  was  in 
active  operation.  Lovett  Peters  was  the  first  president, 
and  George  Denny,  Curtis  Beeman,  and  G.  C.  Sanborn 
succeeded  him  up  to  i860.  The  original  membership 
included  many  whose  names  are  familiar,  though  only 
five  or  six  of  them  are  now  living. 

The  first  attempt  at  a  local  newspaper  was  made  here 
in  1849  by  the  publication  of  the  "  Westborough  Messen- 
ger," a  weekly  quarter-sheet,  edited  and  printed  in  Boston 
by  C.  C.  P.  Moody.  A  copy  of  the  first  issue  lies  before 
me.  It  is  printed  on  a  page  nine  and  a  half  by  thirteen 
and  a  half  inches,  in  four  columns,  with  only  two  columns 
of  advertisements,  headed  by  Samuel  Griggs,  dealer  in 
stoves  and  tin-ware.  This  was  Dr.  Griggs,  who  had  a 
store  in  the  old  brick  school-house,  next  to  Post  Office 
Block.     The  only  Westborough  news  is  to  the  effect  that 


STATE   REFORM   SCHOOL.  229 

the  "  Orthodox "  church  is  being  repaired,  and  the  old 
burying-ground  is  to  be  renovated  and  provided  with 
walks,  trees,  etc.,  the  old  stone  wall  to  be  removed  and 
an  iron  fence  substituted,  together  with  the  report  of 
three  temperance  meetings  in  the  lower  town-hall,  ih 
which  several  prominent  citizens  figured.  This  news- 
paper enterprise  did  not  prove  a  success,  not  being 
indigenous,  and  in  a  few  months  was  suspended. 

The  next  aspirant  for  editorial  honors  was  Benjamin 
VVinslow  Packard,  of  North  Bridgewater,  who  published, 
Sept.  I,  1855,  the  first  number  of  "The  Westborough 
Sheaf."  This  also  was  printed  in  Boston,  though  the 
editorial  headquarters  were  in  Westborough.  It  came 
to  grief  in  less  than  a  year.  In  i860  the  "  Marlborough 
Journal"  undertook  to  print  a  Westborough  edition,  to  be 
called  the  "  Westborough  Transcript,"  of  which,  for  the 
first  eighteen  months,  C.  H.  Pierce  was  the  local  editor. 
This  survived  two  years  and  a  half,  and  was  the  last  at- 
tempt of  the  kind  until  a  printing-office  was  established 
in  the   town   after  the  War  of  the    Rebellion. 

In  1846  a  plan  was  organized  for  a  State  Reform 
School  for  boys,  and  a  site  was  chosen  for  it  on  the 
beautiful  northern  slope  of  Chauncy  Pond.  The  Legis- 
lature authorized  the  expenditure  of  only  ten  thousand 
dollars ;  but  the  project  of  an  institution  that  should  be 
reformatory  rather  than  penal  so  commended  itself  to 
the  late  Hon.  Theodore  Lyman  that  he  at  once  gave  ten 
thousand  more,  and  subsequently,  by  personal  gift  and 
legacy,  increased  the  amount  to  $72,500.  It  was  not 
known  until  after  his  death  from  whom  these  gifts  had 
come,  so  quietly  had  the  matter  been  arranged,  and  so 
great  was  his  shrinking  from  notoriety.  But  the  insti- 
tution would  scarcely  have  been  possible  without  him ; 


230  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH, 

and  it  is  a  satisfaction  that  at  this  late  day,  remodelled 
more  in  accordance  with  his  own  ideas,  and  in  its  new 
location,  it  has  been  rechristened  the  "  Lyman  School." 

The  first  building  was  erected  in  1848,  at  an  expense 
of  $52,000,  and  had  accommodation  for  three  hundred 
boys.  The  first  year  saw  three  hundred  and  ten  boys 
in  the  institution,  and  in  1852  an  enlargement  was  made, 
so  as  to  accommodate  two  hundred  and  fifty  more.  In 
1859  an  inmate  set  fire  to  the  buildings,  which  were 
nearly  destroyed.  The  boys  were  temporarily  removed 
to  Fitchburg  and  Concord  jails  until  new  quarters  could 
be  provided.  But  it  was  felt  that  a  sufficient  discrimi- 
nation had  not  been  made  between  the  younger  and  the 
more  hardened  criminals,  and  an  effort  was  made,  by  es- 
tablishing a  school-ship  in  Boston  Harbor  for  the  worse 
cases,  to  conform  more  nearly  to  the  original  idea  of 
the  founders.  Three  houses  were  also  provided  on  the 
grounds  of  the  Reform  School,  where  the  most  trustworthy 
boys  were  kept,  in  families  of  twenty-five  or  thirty,  and 
allowed  a  good  deal  of  freedom.  This  secured  better  re- 
sults, and  promised  well  for  the  future.  It  happened, 
however,  in  the  capricious  working  of  the  political  machine, 
that  the  school-ship  was  sold,  the  precocious  criminals 
were  again  sent  here,  and  the  school  passed  through 
various  vicissitudes,  the  recountal  of  which  belongs  to 
another  part  of  the  history. 

The  superintendents  in  its  earlier  years  were  William 
R.  Lincoln,  1848-1853  ;  James  M.  Talcott,  1853-1857; 
William  E.  Starr,   185 7-1 86 1. 


CHAPTER  XVII. 

LATER  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY. 

OF  the  ecclesiastical  history  of  Westborough  since 
the  rise  of  denominations,  it  is  necessary  to  speak 
briefly.  The  earliest  form  of  departure  from  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  village  church  was  the  Baptist.  As  early  as 
May  29,  1796,  James  Hawes,  Jr.,  and  Asa  Haskell  were 
immersed  at  Chauncy  Pond  by  Samuel  King,  of  the  Bap- 
tist Church  in  Sutton.  Shortly  afterward  there  is  evi- 
dence of  some  Methodist  sentiment ;  though  the  fact 
that  it  soon  passed  away  without  producing  fruit  in  an 
organization,  makes  it  doubtful  whether  it  was  anything 
more  than  a  convenient  method  of  avoiding  the  parish 
tax,  which  was  required  by  law  of  all  voters,  unless  they 
brought  certificates  that  they  belonged  to  some  other  per- 
suasion. From  1798  to  1802  Fortunatus  Nichols,  Joseph 
Nichols,  Phineas  Hardy,  and  Shadrach  Miller  were  ex- 
empted on  the  certificate  of  a  Methodist  elder.  But 
that  is  the  last  heard  of  Methodism  for  forty-two  years. 
The  Baptists,  though  for  a  long  time  very  few,  and  sub- 
jected to  much  derision  and  indignity,  held  on  steadily, 
and  in  181 1  a  society  was  organized,  and  raised  a  small 
sum  annually  to  support  occasional  preaching.  In  18 14 
a  church  was  organized,  consisting  of  thirty-nine  mem- 
bers. Thomas  Conant  was  the  first  pastor,  who  remained 
in  service  about  two  years,  receiving  for  his  work  less 
than  a  hundred  dollars  a  year,  and  eking  out  the  stipend 
by  farming  and  teaching.     In   1816  they  built  their  first 


232  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

meeting-house,  near  the  corner  of  East  Main  and  Lyman 
streets.  This  was  afterward  removed  to  Woodville.  Pas- 
torates were  irregular  and  of  brief  duration  until  after  1835, 
when  the  new  church  was  built  upon  the  site  of  the  pres- 
ent one.  From  this  time  the  life  of  the  church  has  been 
assured  and  prosperous.  In  1868  the  present  church 
building  was  erected,  and  the  old  one  sold  to  the  Roman 
Catholics.  A  parsonage  had  been  presented  to  the  society 
in  i860,  but  was  afterward  sold,  and  the  present  one  erected 
on  land  given  by  Dea.  Lyman  Belknap,  in  1868  or  1869. 
The  longest  pastorate  has  been  that  of  Adiel  Harvey, 
who  was  here  from  1839  to  1845.  One  of  the  most  marked 
and  best  remembered  at  the  present  time  is  that  of  A.  N. 
Arnold,  D.  D.,  from  1858  to  1864,  —  a  man  of  scholarly 
habits  and  fine  abilities,  previously  Professor  of  Ecclesi- 
astical History  in  the  Seminary  at  Newton,  and  after- 
ward connected  with  similar  institutions  in  Hamilton  and 
Chicago.  In  1868,  during  the  building  of  church  and 
parsonage,  C.  W.  Flanders,  D.  D.,  became  the  pastor,  and 
remained  some  two  years,  making  himself,  as  Dr.  Arnold 
had  done,  an  important  factor  in  town  as  well  as  church, 
beloved  of  all.  Ill-health  compelled  him  to  retire  after 
this  brief  term. 

The  pastorates  of  the  church  have  been  as  follows:  — 

Thomas  Conant,  1814-1816. 

William  Bowen,  1831-1833. 

Alonzo  King,  April  to  November,  1835. 

Otis  Converse,   1836-1838. 

Adiel  Harvey,  1839- 1845. 

Silas  Bailey,   1845-1S47. 

William  L.  Brown,   1847-1851. 

Nathaniel  Hervey,  1851-1853. 

William  H.  Walker,   1 855-1858. 

A.  N.  Arnold,  1858-1864. 


LATER   ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.  233 

J.  A.  Goodhue,  1864-1867. 

C.  W.  Flanders,   1868-1870. 

Stephen  H.  Stackpole,  1871-1873. 

Benjamin  A.  Greene,   1875-1882. 

J.  H.  Parshley,  1883-1884. 

N.  Newton  Glazier,  1 884-1886. 

George  F.  Babbitt,  1886. 

In  1823  there  was  a  Restorationist  Society  in  Shrews- 
bury, to  which  some  Westborough  people  attached  them- 
selves. Their  names  w^ere  John  Leland,  Martin  Bullard, 
Jesse  Rice,  Barnabas  Newton,  Coolidge  Forbush,  Joseph 
Wood,  Leonard  Maynard,  Samuel  Forbush,  John  Andrews, 
Nathaniel  Andrews,  and  Nathan  A,  Fisher.  David  Fay 
was  in  the  same  year  entered  as  a  member  of  the  second 
Universalist  Society  of  Boston,  of  which  Hosea  Ballou 
was  pastor.  This  was  just  at  the  time  when  Mr.  Ballou 
was  at  the  beginning  of  his  strong  influence,  and  the 
older  Universalism  was  receiving  its  new  impulse  and  its 
new  interpretation.  It  never  became  strong  enough  in 
Westborough  to  organize  a  church,  but  at  the  outset  it 
met  with  considerable  individual  response. 

It  was  not  long  after  the  organization  of  the  First 
Society,  to  take  the  place  of  the  town  as  the  ecclesiasti- 
cal corporation,  that  differences  of  opinion  became  mani- 
fest which  were  destined,  as  in  so  many  other  cases  at 
that  period,  to  result  in  the  division  of  the  oldest  eccle- 
siastical body.  There  had  come  to  be  a  sharp  division 
between  Trinitarian  and  Unitarian  theories,  and  the  ques- 
tion of  the  exchange  of  pulpits  between  ministers  who 
held  the  different  beliefs  was  one  of  the  first  causes  of 
disturbance.  Mr.  Rockwood,  who  held  the  pulpit  at  this 
time,  was  a  man  respected  by  the  whole  town ;  but  the 
differences  of  opinion  were  becoming  so  sharp  that  other 


234  EARLY  HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

considerations  were  forgotten  by  both  parties  in  the  de- 
sire to  maintain  their  theological  positions.  Mr.  Rock- 
wood  was  not  adapted  for  a  healer  of  the  division,  having 
himself  very  strong  convictions,  which  he  felt  it  to  be 
his  solemn  duty  to  maintain  at  all  hazards.  In  March, 
1829,  there  was  an  article  in  the  warrant  for  the  meet- 
ing of  the  society  "to  see  if  the  society  will  request  the 
Rev.  Elisha  Rockwood  to  make  exchanges  on  the  Sab- 
bath with  all  the  Congregational  ministers  in  regular 
standing  who  live  in  towns  situated  at  a  convenient  dis- 
tance, without  regard  to  their  particular  tenets  in  the- 
ology." The  article  was  passed  over ;  but  it  reflects  the 
state  of  feeling.  There  were  a  good  many  in  the  society 
of  the  new  way  of  thinking,  but  they  were  as  yet  in  the 
minority.  Their  next  effort  was  to  secure  Unitarian 
preaching  a  part  of  the  time ;  but  this  also  was  voted 
down.  Meantime,  the  necessity  for  a  new  meeting-house 
was  growing  imperative,  and  lent  a  new  aspect  to  the 
struggle.  Some  members  of  the  society  wished  to  build 
a  house  in  which  both  forms  of  faith  might  have  equal 
rights;  others  were  determined  to  restrict  its  use  to  the 
older  form.  The  difference  of  opinion  simply  prevented 
the  building  of  any  house  on  the  existing  basis  of  rep- 
resentation. The  outcome  of  it  was  that  in  1833  a  part 
of  the  members  of  the  society  seceded,  and  formed  a 
new  society,  which  they  called  "  The  Congregational  Cal- 
vinistic  Society."  The  church  then  held  a  meeting,  at 
which  forty  members  were  present,  and  voted,  thirty- 
two  to  four,  to  separate  from  the  old  society  and  unite 
with  the  new.  This  looked  as  if  the  matter  had  reached 
a  settlement ;  but  there  were  a  number  of  those  who  still 
held  the  views  of  the  body  of  the  church  who  were  not 
yet  ready  to  take  the   radical    step   of  divorce;   and    so, 


THE    UNITARIAN    CHURCH. 


LATER   ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.  235 

to  solve  the  difficulty,  it  was  determined  to  try  the  Con- 
gregational method  of  a  council.  Accordingly,  on  the 
7th  of  January,  1834,  an  ecclesiastical  council  was  con- 
vened at  Dexter  Brigham's  hotel,  and  gave  a  patient 
hearing  to  the  case,  continuing  its  session  till  late  at 
night,  and  then  adjourning  until  the  next  morning.  Its 
final  decision  was  to  advise  that  "the  members  of  this 
church  unite  with  those  in  the  community  whom  they 
may  associate  with  them  in  forming  a  new  religious  soci- 
ety." As  this  was  a  practical  ratification  of  the  action 
already  taken,  the  church  lost  no  time  in  accepting  it. 
We  hear  no  more  of  the  "  Calvinistic  Society;"  but 
there  is  a  reorganization  throughout,  and  the  "  Evangeli- 
cal Society "  appears,  with  which  the  old  church  in  a 
body,  with  only  one  or  two  exceptions,  connects  itself. 
On  the  29th  of  January  fifty-six  members  withdrew  from 
the  First  Society  to  join  the  new  body,  and  on  the  loth 
of  February  nine  more.  A  formal  effort  was  made  to 
cement  the  difficulty,  even  at  this  stage  of  affairs,  by  the 
offer  on  the  part  of  the  Evangelical  Society  to  pay  its 
part  toward  the  expenses,  provided  Mr.  Rockwood  could 
be  retained  as  pastor;  but  this  must  have  been  foreseen 
to  be  impossible.  The  breach  was  complete,  and  thence- 
forth there  are  two  societies. 

Mr.  Rockwood's  contract  was  with  the  First  Society, 
which  was  the  lineal  successor  of  the  town  in  the  transac- 
tion of  ecclesiastical  business.  Of  course  the  events  which 
had  occurred  left  the  society  a  unit  in  regard  to  the 
question  of  retaining  his  services.  Inasmuch  as  he  made 
no  movement  in  regard  to  the  matter,  the  society,  at  its 
meeting  on  the  loth  of  February,  voted  "  that  as  the 
division  of  the  society  has  left  it  composed  mostly  of 
those   who   entertain    views    and    opinions    different    from 


236  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

those  entertained  by  Rev.  Elisha  Rockwood,  and  as  it 
has  become  the  wish  of  the  society  that  the  relation  be 
dissolved,"  a  committee  be  appointed  to  obtain  such  infor- 
mation as  should  enable  them  to  act  definitely  and  under- 
standingly  on  the  subject.  The  final  outcome  of  this 
action,  after  some  parley  and  some  bitter  words  on  both 
sides,  was  the  peremptory  dismission  of  Mr.  Rockwood  as 
minister  of  the  First  Society. 

As  the  result  of  this  division,  the  meeting-house  and 
other  ecclesiastical  property  of  the  First  Society  was  re- 
tained in  its  possession,  while  the  records  of  the  church 
and  the  plate  of  the  communion  service  was,  after  some 
discussion,  held  by  the  church.  The  old  society  at  once 
took  measures  to  supply  preaching  more  in  accord  with 
its  views,  and  in  August  called  the  Rev.  Hosea  Hildreth  to 
the  pastorate.  He  was  installed  in  October,  but  resigned 
in  the  following  April  (1835);  ^^d  services  in  the  old 
meeting-house  ceased.  The  proximity  of  the  railroad 
made  the  situation  undesirable  for  church  purposes,  and 
the  house  was  sold,  as  has  been  already  stated,  in  1837. 
Ten  years  went  by  without  religious  services  on  the  part 
of  the  old  society,  but  in  1848  a  lot  was  purchased,  and 
the  church  erected  on  its  present  site.  It  was  for  a  long 
time  a  hard  struggle  for  existence ;  pastorates  were  brief, 
and  changes  frequent:  but  with  outside  aid  the  debt  was 
lifted  in  i860,  and  the  society  entered  on  better  days. 
Some  twelve  years  ago  a  parsonage  was  built  by  the  side 
of  the  church.     The  pastorates  have  been  as  follows  : 

Hosea  Hildreth,  1834-1835. 
William  O.  Moseley,  1850. 
Nathaniel  Gage,  1851-1857. 
H.  A.  Cook,  1858. 
Benjamin  Huntoon,  1859. 


LATER  ECCLESIASTICAL  HISTORY.  237 

Gilbert  Cummings,  1 860-1863. 
•  George  N.  Richardson,  1864-1868. 

W.  G.  Todd,  1868-1870. 
J.  L.  Hatch,  1871. 
C.  A.  Allen,  1872-1875. 
C.  W.  Emerson,  1875-1876. 
Granville  Pierce,  1877. 
J.  P.  Forbes,  18 78-1882. 
E.  C.  Abbott,  1 884-1 886. 
E.  A.  Coil,  1 888-. 

Meantime  the  old  church  with  its  new  society  proceeded 
to  the  erection  of  a  new  meeting-house,  the  one  which 
still  stands,  though  enlarged  and  beautified,  on  the  original 
spot.  The  energy  and  promptness  with  which  this  house 
was  built  contrasts  in  the  most  striking  way  with  the  slow, 
creeping  pace  at  which  the  previous  church  buildings  had 
struggled  into  existence,  and  indicates  the  dawn  of  a  new 
era.  It  was  on  the  loth  of  February,  1834,  that  the  vote 
was  passed  "  to  build  a  meeting-house  similar  to  the  one  in 
Grafton;  "  and  on  the  17th  of  December  of  the  same  year 
it  was  dedicated.  The  church,  meantime,  had  worshipped 
part  of  the  time  in  the  Baptist  church  on  the  plain,  and 
part  of  the  time  in  Union  Hall,  south  of  the  old  West- 
borough  hotel.  The  organ  had  been  left  behind,  and 
some  other  means  must  be  provided  for  sustaining  the 
musical  part  of  the  service ;  so  it  was  voted  on  the  29th 
of  December  to  purchase  a  double-bass  viol,  and  a  com- 
mittee was  appointed  to  procure  a  leader  of  the  choir. 
Mr.  Rockwood  was  considered  as  virtual  pastor,  inasmuch 
as  it  was  the  society,  and  not  the  church,  which  was  new ; 
but  the  struggle  through  which  all  had  passed,  the  bitter- 
ness of  which  was  to  last  for  years,  rendered  it  impossible 
that  the  relationship,  long  and  fruitful  though  it  had  been, 
should  continue.     A  year  after  the  dedication  of  the  new 


238  EARLY   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

house  the  pastor  tendered  his  resignation,  which,  after 
some  demur,  was  accepted,  and  his  dismission  by  council 
followed  on  the  nth  of  March. 

There  was  some  delay  in  supplying  his  place,  and  the 
first  incumbent  who  succeeded  him  —  Barnabas  Phinney  — 
proved  a  very  bad  investment;  so  that  it  was  not  till  1837 
that  the  church  settled  down  to  a  steady  progress  under 
the  ministration  of  Charles  B.  Kittredge.  This  pastorate 
lasted  for  more  than  nine  years,  during  which  time  the 
Sunday-school  became  distinctly  connected  with  the  church, 
a  creed  was  formulated  to  meet  the  necessities  of  that  con- 
troversial period,  and  a  complete  list  of  the  membership, 
from  its  organization  in  1724,  was  made,  at  the  cost  of  great 
labor  and  care.  A  very  brief  pastorate  —  that  of  Henry 
N.  Beers  —  followed  ;  but  in  1849  Daniel  R.  Cady  accepted 
the  post,  and  began  a  pastorate  which  lasted  till  ill-health 
compelled  him  to  resign  it  in  1856,  and  which  left  behind 
it  influences  and  associations  of  tender  and  lasting  value. 
He  was  immediately  succeeded  by  Luther  H.  Sheldon, 
whose  genial  and  sensible  ministry  of  eleven  years  is  still 
fresh  in  many  memories.  In  1869  the  church  building 
was  entirely  remodelled,  and  enlarged  to  its  present  dimen- 
sions. It  was  re-dedicated  in  February,  1870,  during  an 
interval  between  pastorates.  In  October,  1871,  Mr.  Albert 
W.  Smith,  who  had  removed  here  some  time  before  from 
Boston,  and  had  been  a  warm  friend  of  the  church  and  an 
unremitting  supervisor  of  the  repairs  on  the  meeting-house, 
left  by  will  the  sum  of  $2,000  toward  the  building  of  a 
parsonage;  and  the  present  house  was  erected  the  fol- 
lowing year. 

The  pastorates  since  that  of  Mr.  Sheldon  have  been  — 

Artemas  Dean,  1867-1869. 
Heman  P.  De  Forest,  1871-1880. 


H 

Q 

K 

r 

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o 

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LATER  ECCLESIASTICAL   HISTORY.  239 

F.  A.  Thayer,  1880-1882, 
William  Mitchell,  1883-1884. 
W.  Walcott  Fay,  1888. 

Reference  has  been  made  to  the  existence  of  a  trace  of 
Methodism  here  as  early  as  the  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  But  there  was  not  enough  of  it  to  crystallize 
into  a  church  until  half  a  century  later.  In  the  spring  of 
1844  the  First  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  was  organ- 
ized, —  not  yet,  however,  as  an  integral  church,  but  as  a 
branch  of  the  church  in  Holliston.  In  the  two  following 
years  it  was  connected  in  a  similar  way  with  the  church 
in  Hopkinton,  whose  pastor  sometimes  came  over  to 
preach  in  the  Centre  school-house, — the  building  now 
standing  at  the  north  end  of  the  old  burying-ground.  In 
1847  it  was  again  connected  with  the  Holliston  church, 
and  so  remained  until  1858,  when  it  became  an  indepen- 
dent station,  and  had  a  pastor  of  its  own.  At  that  time  it 
worshipped  in  the  lower  story  of  the  High  School-house. 
Six  years  later  the  present  house  of  worship  was  built,  and 
the  church  assumed  its  place  with  the  rest  in  the  commu- 
nity.    The  pastors  have  been  — 

J.  E.  Cromack,  1 858-1859. 
W.  P.  Blackmer,  1860-1 861. 
S.  B.  Sweetser,  1862-1863. 
J.  B.  Bigelow,  1864-1865. 
W.  M.  Hubbard,  1866-186  7. 
W.  A.  Nottage,  1 868-1 869. 
B.  Gill,  1870-187 1. 
Burtis  Judd,  1872-1874. 
J.  S.  Day,  1875. 
Z.  A.  Mudge,  1876-1878. 
J.  H.  Emerson,  1879-1881. 
E.  A.  Howard,  1 881-1884. 
John  R.  Gushing,  1884-1887. 
A.  W.  Tirrell,  1887. 


240  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

St.  Luke's  Church — Roman  Catholic  —  was  instituted 
about  1850,  but  for  twenty  years  was  under  the  charge  of 
pastors  of  the  surrounding  parishes.  In  1868  the  old 
meeting-house  of  the  Baptist  Society  was  purchased,  and 
removed  to  Milk  Street,  where  it  accommodated  the  parish 
for  eighteen  years,  when,  on  the  4th  of  April,  1886,  it  was 
burned  to  the  ground.  A  temporary  chapel  was  built  on 
Ruggles  Street,  where  the  church  worshipped  till  the 
recent  completion  of  its  present  house  on  Main  Street. 
The  presbytery  adjoining  was  built  in  1881.  The  church 
now  has  some  two  thousand  people  under  its  supervision. 
Previous  to  1871  it  was  under  the  charge  of  six  different 
priests,  —  Fathers  Gibson  of  Worcester,  Farley  of  Milford, 
Sherrin  of  Uxbridge,  and  Cuddy,  Welch,  and  Barry  of 
Hopkinton.  The  resident  priests  have  been,  R.  J.  Dono- 
van, 1871-1873;  R  Egan,  1873-1878;  C.  J.  Cronin,  1878- 
1884;  R.  S.  J.  Burke,  1 884-1 886;  J.  J.  McCoy,  1886-. 
Father  Cronin  died  in  charge  of  the  parish,  and  is  buried 
in  the  Catholic  cemetery. 

In  1859  the  Second  Adventists  organized,  and  built  the 
chapel  on  Church  Street,  which  they  have  occupied  with 
varying  fortunes  since. 

Episcopal  services  began  to  be  held  in  Henry  Hall 
in  1878,  and  were  continued  for  some  time  at  intervals. 
In  1885  regular  sessions  were  begun  in  the  Unitarian 
Chapel,  under  the  charge  of  the  Rev.  John  Gregson, 
of  Wilkinsonville. 


That  part  of  the  history  of  the  town  which  I  have  un- 
dertaken to  set  forth  closes  with  i860.  The  remainder, 
from  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War  to  the  present  time,  is 
in  charge  of  Mr.  E.  C.  Bates.  I  have,  however,  at  his 
request  brought  the  sketch  of  ecclesiastical  history  down 


CONCLUSION.  241 

to  the  present  year.  Nine  years  of  personal  acquaintance 
with  the  town  in  the  last  decade  impressed  me  strongly 
with  its  thrifty  and  healthy  growth  and  its  wholesome  char- 
acter. Events  and  persons  are  vividly  before  me  of  which 
it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  speak ;  but  that  is  not  within  my 
present  purpose.  It  is,  however,  not  with  the  spirit  of  the 
antiquarian,  but  rather  from  a  personal  interest  in  the 
place  and  the  people,  that  I  have  filched  such  time  as  I 
was  able  from  the  hours  of  a  busy  life  to  save  the  story  of 
the  earlier  days  from  complete  oblivion.  If  not  a  romantic 
story,  it  is  an  honorable  one,  and  a  good  heritage  to  hold 
from  the  past  as  a  stimulus  to  future  achievement ;  and  my 
hope  is  that  the  telling  of  it,  imperfect  as  it  is,  may  encour- 
age the  rising  interest  in  the  past  history  of  the  place,  and 
stimulate  others  to  develop  that  which  is  here  begun. 


THE  LATER  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


PREFACE    TO    PART    II. 


To  the  many  persons  who  have  aided  me  in  the 
pleasant  task  of  preparing  the  second  part  of  the  HIS- 
TORY OF  Westborough,  I  am  deeply  grateful.  I  am 
under  special  obligations  to  a  valuable  file  of  the  "  West- 
borough  Chronotype"  in  the  Public  Library,  and  to 
the  long  and  careful  labors  of  the  late  Hon.  Samuel  M, 
Griggs,  who,  as  town  clerk  of  Westborough  from  1856 
to  1886,  not  only  kept  the  records  during  that  time  in 
the  most  excellent  manner,  but  made  a  valuable  index 
of  the  records  from  the  beginning. 

EDWARD    C.  BATES. 
Westborough,  November,  1890. 


VIEW    OF    WESTBOROUGH    FROM    WHITNEY    HILL. 


THE 


Later  History  of  Westborough. 


CHAPTER   I. 

1860-1865. 


THE   CIVIL  WAR.  —  ACTION   OF  THE  TOWN, — IN  THE 
FIELD.  —  SOLDIERS'   SEWING   SOCIETY. 

THE  story  of  the  growth  and  development  of  West- 
borough  now  turns  from  matters  strictly  local  to 
her  humble,  though  loyal  and  earnest,  share  in  suppress- 
ing a  great  rebellion.  At  the  outbreak  of  the  war  the 
town  had  increased  to  a  population  of  about  three  thou- 
sand. Agriculture  was  still  the  main  occupation  of  her 
people,  though  the  manufacture  of  sleighs,  and  of  boots 
and  shoes,  was  to  some  extent  carried  on.  It  was  a  quiet 
village.  The  busy  hum  of  machinery  was  little  heard, 
and  the  era  of  "  modern  improvements "  in  buildings, 
highways,  sidewalks,  and  the  rest  had  not  yet  begun. 
But  while  the  people  of  Westborough  were  quietly  at- 
tentive to  their  various  local  interests,  —  their  farms  and 
shops,  churches  and  schools,  —  stirring  events  were  occur- 
ring in  the  great  world  outside.  The  cloud  of  Seces- 
sion, which  had  been  lowering  over  the  country  for  nearly 
half  a  century,  was  growing  blacker  and  more  threaten- 
ing. Slavery  was  the  cause  of  the  disturbance.  As 
long  as  the  cherished  institution  of  the  South  had  been 


246  LATER  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

confined  to  its  original  boundaries,  the  indulgent  North 
had  made  little  protest.  But  with  the  rapid  growth  of 
the  South  in  industrial  importance  and  wealth,  —  follow- 
ing Eli  Whitney's  invention  of  the  cotton-gin,  which 
made  cotton  "  king,"  and  slave  labor  profitable,  —  the 
extension  of  slavery  became  the  question  of  the  day; 
and  the  extension  of  slavery  into  new  territory  aroused 
vigorous  opposition.  The  solution  of  the  troublesome 
question  was  delayed  for  a  while  by  a  series  of  hu- 
miliating compromises ;  but  the  increasing  power  of  the 
slaveholders  made  each  demand  more  bold,  and  more 
dangerous  to  grant.  A  sectional  war  was  inevitable. 
The  pecuniary  interests  of  the  South  were  too  great 
to  be  voluntarily  surrendered,  and  the  moral  judgment 
of  the  North  could  never  sanction  the  growth  of  slav- 
ery as  a  national  institution.  The  weak  and  vacillating 
administration  of  President  Buchanan  gave  the  South 
an  opportunity  to  prepare  for  the  approaching  conflict. 
Arms  and  ammunition  were  sent  to  Southern  forts; 
ships  of  war  were  despatched  to  distant  parts  of  the 
world ;  the  army  was  weakened  and  scattered ;  in  fact, 
before  the  grand  crisis  arrived,  every  possible  means 
had   been   taken   to   make   secession  an  easier  task. 

In  the  Presidential  election  of  i860  the  Republican 
party  presented  as  its  candidate  Abraham  Lincoln,  and 
pledged  itself  to  oppose  the  further  encroachment  of 
slavery.  The  Democratic  party,  which  was  more  friendly 
toward  the  system,  became  hopelessly  divided.  The 
more  moderate  Democrats  nominated  Stephen  A.  Doug- 
las, while  John  C.  Breckenridge  represented  the  extreme 
slavery  sentiment  of  the  South.  In  the  midst  of  the 
excitement,  a  party  favoring  conciliation  and  compro- 
mise  nominated   John   Bell.      On  the  6th  of  November, 


THE   CIVIL  WAR.  24/ 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  elected  President.  His  election 
was  hailed  with  joy  in  the  North,  and  with  bitterness 
and  rage  throughout  the  South.  The  Slave  States  had 
boldly  threatened  that  they  would  secede  from  the  Union 
in  case  of  Lincoln's  election,  and  it  was  soon  seen  that 
their  threats  were  more  than  idle  bluster.  On  the  20th 
of  December  South  Carolina  passed  her  ordinance  of 
secession;  and  before  the  inauguration  of  President  Lin- 
coln, Mississippi,  Florida,  Alabama,  Georgia,  Louisiana, 
and  Texas  had   followed  her  example. 

The  first  act  of  open  hostility  took  place  on  January 
9,  1 86 1,  when  the  steamer  "Star  of  the  West,"  bearing 
supplies  to  the  Federal  garrison,  was  fired  upon  off 
Charleston  harbor.  On  April  I2,  Fort  Sumter,  which 
was  garrisoned  by  eighty  men  under  Captain  Anderson, 
was  bombarded  by  South  Carolina  troops.  Two  days 
later  —  Sunday,  April  14  —  the  fort  surrendered.  The 
next  morning  came  President  Lincoln's  famous  call  for 
seventy- five  thousand  men  for  three  months'  service. 

The  attack  on  Sumter  aroused  the  North  as  no  event 
had  done  since  the  stirring  days  of  1775.  The  cold  and 
unemotional  New  Englander  again  glowed  with  patriotic 
ardor.  "  The  instant  effect  produced,"  says  one  histo- 
rian, "was  that  of  solemn  silence, —  that  silence  which 
in  the  resolute  man  is  the  precursor  of  irrevocable  de- 
termination ;  and  then  there  arose  all  through  the  coun- 
try, from  the  Canadian  frontier  to  where  the  Ohio,  rolling 
his  waters  westwardly  for  a  thousand  miles,  separates  the 
lands  of  freedom  from  those  of  slavery,  not  the  yell  of 
defiance,  but  the  deep-toned  cheer," 

The  patriotism  of  the  people  of  Westborough  was 
stirred  in  unison  with  the  general  thrill.  Slavery  and 
secession  found   little   sympathy.     The   sentiment  of  the 


248  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

town  was  shown  in  the  election  of  i860,  when  two  votes 
were  cast  for  Breckenridge,  forty-four  for  Bell,  ninety- 
seven  for  Douglas,  and  three  hundred  and  one  for 
Lincoln.  But  the  prompt  and  earnest  action  of  the 
town  in  response  to  the  President's  appeal,  and  the  spon- 
taneous and  vigorous  protest  of  the  people  against  any 
sign  of  sympathy  with  the  seceding  States,  are  perhaps 
better  evidence  of  the  loyal  spirit  which  animated  the 
community.  On  Wednesday,  April  17,  —  two  days  after 
the  call  for  troops,  —  a  warrant  was  issued  by  the  se- 
lectmen, G.  C.  Sanborn,  B.  B.  Nourse,  and  S.  B.  Howe, 
calling  a  town-meeting  for  April  25,  "  to  see  if  the 
town  will  grant  or  appropriate  any  money  toward  rais- 
ing a  military  company  in  the  town,  or  act  anything 
in  relation  to  the  same,"  The  excitement  was  intense, 
and  warlike  talk  and  preparations  did  not  wait  for  the 
official  sanction  of  the  town.  On  the  19th  of  April  the 
news  of  the  attack  on  the  Sixth  Regiment  in  the  streets 
of  Baltimore  added  fuel  to  the  flames.  Patriotic  enthu- 
siasm could  no  longer  endure  opposition  or  indiffer- 
ence. The  postmaster,  who  had  spoken  rather  too 
freely,  it  was  thought,  in  expressing  his  sympathy  for 
the  South,  was  its  most  prominent  victim.  On  the  after- 
noon of  the  outrage  in  Baltimore  a  crowd  of  excited 
men  appeared  before  the  office,  —  at  the  corner  of  South 
and  Main  Streets,  near  where  G.  M.  Tewksbury's  jewelry 
store  now  is,  —  and  presenting  him  with  the  flag  of  his 
country,  demanded  that  he  raise  it  at  the  office  door. 
This  he  refused  to  do.  Fifteen  minutes  were  given  him 
to  change  his  mind ;  and  when  it  was  announced  that 
the  allotted  time  had  nearly  expired,  a  friend  of  the 
postmaster,  with  the  excuse  that  "  the  easiest  way  is 
the   best   way,"    avoided    further   trouble   by  nailing    the 


THE  CIVIL  WAR.  249 

flag  to  the  door-post.  There  it  remained  for  months, 
until  the  wind  and  rain  had  reduced  it  to  tatters,  inspir- 
ing loyalty  and  rebuking  indifference. 

At  the  town-meeting  held  April  25,  in  accordance 
with  the  warrant  mentianed  above,  T.  A.  Smith,  C.  P. 
Winslow,  J.  F.  B.  Marshall,  Benjamin  Boynton,  and  John 
Bowes  were  chosen  a  committee  to  consider  the  matter 
of  raising  a  company,  and  to  report  the  necessary  ex- 
pense. They  reported  the  following  resolutions,  which 
were  unanimously  adopted :  — 

"  Resolved,  —  That  the  town  appropriate  five  thousand  dollars, 
to  be  expended  in  the  purchase  of  uniforms,  pay  of  men  while 
drilling,  and  for  pay  in  addition  to  the  amount  paid  by  the 
Government,   when  called  into  active   service. 

^^  Resolved,  —  That  a  committee  of  five  be  chosen,  whose  duty 
it  shall  be  to  attend  to  the  expenditure  and  disbursement  of  all 
moneys  hereby  appropriated ;  and  no  bills  shall  be  contracted 
for  or  paid  without  the  approbation  and  approval  of  said 
committee." 

No  petty  bickering  marred  the  unanimity  with  which 
the  people  of  Westborough  responded  to  the  call  of  the 
President.  After  the  unanimous  adoption  of  the  above 
resolutions,  it  was  immediately  voted  that  "  the  treas- 
urer be  authorized  to  borrow  $5,000,  the  selectmen 
issuing  town  script  therefor,  to  fall  due  $1,000  per 
annum  after  the  present  issues ;  "  and  further,  that  the 
selectmen,  —  G.  C.  Sanborn,  B.  B.  Nourse,  and  S.  B. 
Howe,  —  with  J.  F.  B.  Marshall  and  Patrick  Casey,  be 
the  committee  called  for  in  the  second  resolution. 

The  Military  Committee,  as  it  was  called,  having  organ- 
ized by  choosing  B.  B.  Nourse  chairman  and  J.  F.  B. 
Marshall  secretary,  immediately  set  about  its  task.  A 
company    was    organized,    known    as    the   Westborough 


250  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Rifle  Company,  and  was  chartered  on  April  29  as  Mas- 
sachusetts Volunteer  Militia.  It  numbered  seventy-nine 
men.  But  before  the  time  of  going  into  camp,  the  an- 
nouncement came  that  the  Government  could  accept 
no  more  volunteers  for  three  months'  service.  The  com- 
pany was  accordingly  re-organized,  with  a  view  to  enlisting 
for  three  years.  It  lost,  in  consequence,  nearly  half  its 
members ;  but  recruits  kept  joining  from  day  to  day,  and 
before  its  departure  the  company  contained  one  hundred 
and  one  men.  Of  the  total  number,  Westborough  fur- 
nished fifty-six  men ;  Southborough,  eighteen ;  Upton, 
nine;  Shrewsbury,  nine;  Hopkinton,  eight;  and  North- 
borough,  one. 

Several  weeks  were  spent  in  drilling  and  equipping  the 
company,  during  which  it  made  marches  to  several  of 
the  surrounding  towns.  "Sumptuous  dinners,  patriotic 
speeches  by  town  magnates,  and  the  blessings  of  the 
fathers  and  mothers,"  in  the  words  of  one  of  their  num- 
ber, "  were  everywhere  showered  upon  the  volunteers." 
Calvin  Chamberlain,  a  resident  of  California,  but  a  native 
of  Westborough,  showed  his  interest  in  their  welfare  by 
presenting  each  man  with  a  dagger ;  and  on  the  company's 
visit  to  Upton,  each  member  was  presented  with  a  drinking- 
tube  by  the  Hon.  William  Knowlton. 

The  work  of  preparing  uniforms  was  undertaken  by 
the  women.  On  April  26,  the  day  following  the  town- 
meeting  at  which  it  was  voted  to  raise  a  military 
company,  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  Town  Hall  to 
organize  a  Soldiers'  Sewing  Society.  After  prayer  b}^ 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Cummings,  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  J.  F.  B. 
Marshall  explained  the  objects  of  the  meeting.  It  was 
voted  to  organize  a  society,  and  the  following  officers 
were  chosen:   president,  Mrs.   E.  M.  Phillips;    secretary, 


THE  CIVIL  WAR.  25  I 

Miss  M.  J.  Marshall;  directors,  Mrs.  J.  F.  B.  Marshall, 
Mrs.  S.  B.  Lakin,  Mrs.  A.  N.  Arnold,  Mrs.  J.  A.  Fayer- 
weather,  and  Mrs.  Salmon  Comstock.  There  was  plenty 
of  work  awaiting  the  society;  and  in  accordance  with  a 
notice  read  in  all  the  churches  on  the  previous  Sunday, 
two  hundred  ladies,  with  their  needles  and  thimbles,  met 
at  the  Town  Hall  Tuesday  morning,  April  30,  at  ten 
o'clock.  After  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Arnold,  of  the 
Baptist  Church,  and  the  singing  of  a  hymn,  the  different 
garments,  "  consisting  of  four  dozen  blue-flannel  shirts 
and  four  dozen  pairs  gray-flannel  drawers,"  were  dis- 
tributed. The  work  progressed  steadily  for  four  or  five 
hours,  until  the  allotted  task  was  completed.  This  work 
was  for  the  State.  Subsequent  meetings  for  preparing 
uniforms  for  the  VVestborough  company  were  frequently 
held  until  the  20th  of  June.  The  result  was  the  thor- 
ough equipment  of  the  company  (the  town  furnishing  the 
material,  and  J.  A.  Trowbridge,  who  then  had  a  tailor's 
shop,  attending  to  the  cutting)  with  uniform,  fatigue-suit, 
havelock,  thread-bag,  towels,  handkerchief,  soap,  and 
comb  for  each  soldier. 

After  weeks  of  preparation,  on  the  29th. of  June  the 
Rifle  Company  departed  to  Fort  Independence,  Boston 
Harbor,  and  on  the  i6th  of  July  was  mustered  into  ser- 
vice for  three  years  as  Company  K,  Thirteenth  Regi- 
ment, Mass.  Vols.  The  following  VVestborough  men  were 
in  the  ranks : — 

William  P.  Blackmer,  Captain,  John  Jones,      Corporal. 

William  B.  Kimball,  First  Sergeant.  William  H.  Sibley,    " 

Abner  R.  Greenwood,  Sergeant.  Alfred  L.  Sanborn,    " 

William  W.  Fay,  "  Melzar  G.  Turner,    « 

William  R.  Warner,  "  Sidney  Barstow. 

Augustus  Allen,  Corporal.  Isaiah  H.  Beals. 


252 


LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


Charles  R.  Brigham. 
Harrison  M.  Brigham. 
Francis  A.  Brigham. 
Ernory  Bullard. 
John  S.  Burnap. 
Thomas  Copeland. 
John  Copeland. 
John  H.  Crowle}^ 
Wallace  H.  Cushman. 
Ira  L.  Donovan. 
George  R.  Douglas. 
Charles  Drayton. 
George  F.  Emery. 
Joseph  H.  Fairbanks. 
Hollis  H.  Fairbanks. 
Henr)'  A.  Fairbanks. 
Charles  M.  Fay. 
John  Fly. 


William  H.  Forbush. 
John  Glidden. 
George  C  Haraden. 
Frank  A.  Harrington. 
Lyman  Haskell. 
Hiram  G.  Hodgkins. 
John  Lackey. 
Edward  Lee. 
Alden  Lovell. 
Michael  Lynch. 
Chandler  Robbins. 
Harvey  C  Ross. 
John  W.  Sanderson. 
James  Slattery. 
Frank  L.  Stone. 
Melvin  H.  Walker. 
Stephen  Warren. 
Charles  H.  Williams. 


In  Company  C. 
Spencer  Chamberlain.  George  B.  Searles. 

///  Compafiy  E. 
John  Burns. 

At  the  time  of  its  organization  the  company  had  made 
choice  of  the  following  officers,  vi^ho  had  been  duly  com- 
missioned by  Governor  Andrew;  captain,  William  P. 
Blackmer,  the  pastor  of  the  Methodist  Church  ;  first 
lieutenant,  Charles  P.  Winslow;  second  lieutenant,  Ethan 
Bullard  ;  third  lieutenant,  John  W.  Sanderson ;  fourth  lieu- 
tenant, Abner  R.  Greenwood.  As  only  two  lieutenants 
were  allowed  in  the  United  States  service,  changes  in 
the  roll  of  officers  soon  became  necessary.  Captain 
Blackmer  retained  his  commission,  but  resigned  Octo- 
ber 1 6,  and  was  succeeded  by  Captain  Charles  H.  Hovey. 
The  positions  of  first  and  second  lieutenants  were  given 


THE   CIVIL  WAR.  253 

respectively  to  William  B.  Bacon,  of  Worcester,  and 
Charles  B.  Fox,  of  Dorchester.  Lieutenants  Winslow  and 
Bullard  withdrew  temporarily  from  the  service;  Lieu- 
tenant Sanderson  enlisted  in  Company  C  of  the  same 
(thirteenth)  regiment,  was  appointed  orderly  sergeant, 
and  afterwards  was  promoted  to  first  lieutenant;  and 
Lieutenant  Greenwood  remained  as  second  sergeant  in 
Company  K. 

The  company  remained  at  Fort  Independence  until 
July  29,  when  it  was  ordered  to  the  scene  of  war.  The 
train  containing  the  regiment  passed  through  Westbor- 
ough ;  and  as  it  rolled  slowly  past  the  station,  hundreds 
of  citizens  were  in  waiting  to  catch  a  last  look  of  their 
friends  and  cheer  them  on  their  way. 

The  regiment  proceeded  to  Williamsport,  Md.,  and  re- 
mained in  that  vicinity  during  the  remainder  of  the 
year.  Death  twice  visited  the  camp.  John  S.  Burnap 
died  of  exposure  December  10,  and  George  C.  Haraden 
of  heart-disease  December  22.  Their  remains  were  for- 
warded to  their  friends  at  home,  and  their  funeral  ser- 
vices, under  the  charge  of  the  selectmen,  were  conducted 
by  clergymen  of  the  different  churches,  and  attended  by 
a  large  number  of  citizens.  Places  of  business  were 
closed,  and  every  mark  of  respect  was  shown  to  the 
memory  of  the  first  soldiers  of  Westborough  who  during 
the  Civil  War  died  in  their  country's  service. 

In  sending  to  the  field  its  first  military  company,  the 
work  of  the  town  had  just  begun.  It  was  found  that 
the  citizens  had  acted  without  authority  in  the  meeting 
of  April  25,  and  another  meeting  was  held  July  27,  at 
which  the  following  resolution  was  adopted:  — 

"In  consequence  of  the  illegality  of  the  proceedings  relative 
to  raising  money  for  military  purposes  at  a  town  meeting  held 


2  54  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

the  25th  day  of  April  last ;  and  whereas  since  that  meeting  the 
Legislature  having  passed  an  Act  authorizing  towns  to  raise 
money  to  defray  expenses  already  then  incurred,  and  to  fulfil 
existing  contracts  to  a  certain  extent  with  members  of  the  volun- 
teer militia  of  this  State,  —  It  is  therefore  Resolved ^,'Y\\z.\.  this 
town  do  now  raise,  by  the  issue  of  town-scrip,  the  sum  of  thirty- 
five  hundred  dollars  to  defray  the  expenses  already  incurred, 
and  in  carrying  out  any  contracts  already  made  in  raising  and 
fitting  out  the  military  company  in  this  town  known  as  the 
Westborough  Rifle  Company,  composed  of  citizens  of  this  and 
adjoining  towns." 

It  was  further  "  voted  unanimously  that  the  Military 
Committee  be  authorized  to  carry  out  any  contracts  which 
they  have  made  with  any  members  of  the  Westborough 
Rifle  Company  to  the  extent  of  the  provisions  of  the 
law."  And  in  order  that  the  families  of  volunteers 
should  suffer  no  hardship,  it  was  voted  "  that  the  select- 
men be  authorized  and  directed  to  aid  the  families  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Westborough  who,  as  members  of  the 
volunteer  militia  of  this  State,  may  have  been  mustered 
into  or  enlisted  in  the  service  of  the  United  States,  —  to 
each  wife,  parent,  or  child,  dependent  on  such  inhabitant 
for  support,  the  sum  of  one  dollar  per  week,  provided 
the  whole  sum  given  to  the  family  of  any  one  person  so 
enlisted  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  twelve  dollars  per 
month ;  and  the  selectmen  are  authorized  to  render  such 
further  aid  to  the  families  of  volunteers  enlisted  as  afore- 
said as  they  shall  deem  necessary  for  their  support,  and 
that  this  additional  aid  shall  be  charged  to  the  military 
account ;  "  and  to  carry  out  the  provisions  of  this  vote 
the  treasurer  was  authorized  to  borrow  $1,500. 

In  accordance  with  votes  of  the  town,  the  Military 
Committee  expended,  in  providing  the  company  with  uni- 
forms,  and   in   equipping   officers,   $1,647.66;    in   pay  to 


THE  CIVIL  WAR.  255 

men  while  drilling,  $1,057.55;  in  one  month's  additional 
pay  to  forty  members,  $400;  and  in  incidental  expenses 
for  music,  drill-master,  rent,  etc.,  $290.39 :  making  a  total 
expenditure  in  1861  of  $3,395.60.  Of  this  sum  West- 
borough  actually  expended  $2,814.20,  the  balance  being 
made  good  by  Southborough,  Upton,  and  Shrewsbury. 
The  selectmen,  during  the  year  1861,  aided  families  of 
volunteers  to  the   extent  of  $1,238. 

In  addition  to  those  already  named,  the  close  of  the 
year  found  many  Westborough  men  in  the  army.  The 
Twenty-second  Regiment  Band,  mustered  in  October, 
contained  eight,   as  follows :  — 

John  S.  Bond.  Marshall  S.  Pike. 

William  Dee.  Solomon  J.  Taft. 

Frederick  W.  Kimball.  Austin  Wallace. 

Charles  C.  Nichols.  Salem  T.  Weld. 

In  other  regiments  mustered  during  the  first  months 
of  the  war  were, — 

Charles  W.  Blanchard.  Charles  Greenwood. 

Charles  B.  Burgess.  Henry  A.  Harris. 

Jackson  Donovan.  John  W.  Haraden. 

Thomas  B.  Dyer.  Abner  W.  Haskell. 

Edward  S.  Esty.  Charles  L.  Harrington. 

John  W.  Fairbanks.  Daniel  B.  Miller. 

George  J.  Fayerweather.  Edward  Roberts. 

William  Fisher.  George  H.  Stone. 
James  H.  Sullivan. 

The  first  year  of  the  war  came  to  a  gloomy  close. 
The  prophecies  of  those  who  believed  in  a  speedy  end- 
ing of  the  conflict  were  as  false  as  the  croakings  of  those 
who  regarded  success  as  hopeless.  Little  had  yet  been 
done  toward  crushing  the  great  uprising.  In  the  few  con- 
tests that  had  taken  place,  the  Union  army  had  suffered 


256  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

severely.  Bull  Run  had  filled  the  North  with  humiliation 
and  rage  that  was  far  from  soothed  by  the  monotonous 
report  of  "  all  quiet  along  the  Potomac."  The  country 
clamored  for  an  advance;  and  in  March,  1862,  General 
McClellan  began  his  famous  "  Peninsular  Campaign," 
which  reduced  the  magnificent  army  of  one  hundred 
and  sixty  thousand  men  to  a  discouraged  band  of  fifty 
thousand. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Union  army,  July  2, 
1862,  when  President  Lincoln,  almost  heartbroken  by 
the  long  series  of  failures,  issued  a  call  for  three  hundred 
thousand  volunteers  for  three  years'  service.  The  quota 
assigned  to  Westborough  was  thirty-two.  The  grand  en- 
thusiasm that  had  swept  the  country  on  the  fall  of  Fort 
Sumter  had  subsided  to  a  much  calmer  feeling.  Men 
thought  of  the  consequences  before  enlisting.  It  was  found 
-desirable,  therefore,  for  the  town  to  encourage  enlistments 
by  offering  bounties.  At  a  meeting  held  July  23,  1862, 
it  was  voted  that  '*  the  selectmen  be  authorized  to  draw 
upon  the  treasurer  for  a  sum  sufficient  to  pay  each 
recruit,  who  shall  enlist  from  this  town,  the  sum  of  one 
hundred  dollars,  which  shall  be  paid  as  soon  as  he  shall 
be  mustered  into  the  United  States  service ;  "  and  further, 
that  the  poll-taxes  of  volunteers  be  remitted.  Under  the 
stimulus  of  these  inducements,  thirty  men  enlisted  for 
three  years,  each  of  them  receiving  the  offered  bounty. 
Of  this  number,  twenty-two  were  enrolled  in  the  Thirty- 
fourth  Regiment,  Mass.  Vols.,  under  Col.  George  D.  Wells, 
of  Boston,  and  were  connected  with  Company  C.  Their 
names  were  as  follows :  — 

Minot  C.  Adams.  William  H.  Blake. 

William  M.  Aldrich.  Charles  E.  Brigham. 

Charles  W.  Bacon.  Dexter  P.  Brigham. 


THE   CIVIL  WAR.  257 

Charles  S.  Carter.  Francis  E.  Kemp. 

George  S.  Chickering.  John  Mockley. 

Byron  Donovan.  Michael  Powers. 

George  A.  Ferguson.  Amos  Rice. 

Henry  C.  Ferguson.  J.  Frank  Sweeney. 

Charles  P.  Fisher.  Lyman  S.  Walker. 

George  F.  Hale.  Cephas  N.  Walker. 

Charles  H.  Hardy.  Frederick  A.  Wiswall. 

Hardly  a  month  had  passed  before  another  call 
(August  4)  for  three  hundred  thousand  men  for  nine 
months'  service  was  issued,  and  an  enrolment  of  the 
militia  was  directed.  In  accordance  with  this  order,  all 
male  citizens  of  the  town  between  the  ages  of  eighteen 
and  forty-five,  not  visibly  and  permanently  disabled, 
were  enrolled,  —  a  total  of  three  hundred  and  ninety- 
eight  men.  The  approximate  number  which  Westbor- 
ough  was  required  to  raise  in  order  to  fill  her  quota  was 
forty-one,  and  two  men  were  still  wanting  to  fill  the 
quota  under  the  previous  call.  The  selectmen,  who  now 
attended  to  military  affairs,  had  no  difficulty  in  procur- 
ing enlistments.  The  volunteers  received  bounties  to  the 
amount  of  $8,200,  —  $200  to  each  man.  As  the  town 
had  no  legal  authority  to  raise  money  for  paying  bounties, 
although  disposed  to  do  so  most  cheerfully,  four  prominent 
citizens,  —  Abijah  Wood,  A.  J.  Burnap,  J.  A.  Fayerweather, 
and  Zebina  Gleason,  —  loaned  the  town  $10,000,  a  large 
number  of  citizens  signing  a  bond  to  indemnify  them  in  case 
the  town  should  not  be  legally  able  to  assume  the  debt. 

In  responding  to  the  call  of  August  4,  the  following 
Westborough  men  were  mustered  in  Company  E  of  the 
Fifty-first  Regiment :  — 

Charles  P.  Winslow,  First  Lieut.         Dexter  W.  Bennet 
George  T.  Fayerweather,  Sergt.  Francis  A.  Brigham. 

Festus  Faulkner,  Jr.,  Musician.  Martin  Bullard. 


2S8  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

Henry  A,  Burnap.  John  W.  Johnson. 

Andrew  P.  Carter.  Robert  S.  Lackey. 

Theodore  L.  Davis.  Charles  E.  Long. 

Henry  S.  Foster.  Charles  Q.  Lowd. 

John  A.  Foster.  Charles  O.  Parker. 

Francis  Harrington.  James  F.  Robinson. 

Myron  J.  Horton.  Samuel  O.  Staples. 

Edward  Hudson.  George  W.  Warren. 

William  H.  Johnson.  Edwin  D.  Wood. 

In  Company  A,  of  the  same  regiment,  John  W.  San- 
derson served  as  first  lieutenant,  and  in  Company  C, 
Joseph  G.  Longley  as  corporal.  In  Company  I  of  the 
Fiftieth  Regiment,  mustered  late  in  September,  were  the 
following :  — 

James  Burns.  Michael  C.  Hannon. 

Thomas  Cary.  Thomas  Keevan. 

Patrick  Casey.  Thomas  Martin. 

John  Dee.  Thomas  Murphy. 

Michael  Dolan,  Michael  McCoy. 

Bernard  Fannon.  Patrick  McCarthy. 

In  August,  the  names  of  the  following  Westborough 
men  were  added  to  the  rolls  of  Company  K,  Thirteenth 
Regiment:  — 

Lorenzo  A.  Chapman.  George  E.  Hartwell. 

William  H.  Edmands.  John  M.  Hill. 

Alfred  L.  Trowbridge. 

Owing  to  the  fact  that  citizens  enrolled  in  the  militia 
did  not  manifest  the  same  zeal  as  was  shown  in  other  places 
in  securing  exemption  from  service,  the  quota  of  West- 
borough  was  soon  found  to  be  sixty-seven  instead  of 
forty-one.  But  by  securing  the  names  of  Westborough 
men  who  had  been  wrongly  credited  to  other  towns,  the 
selectmen  reduced  the  number  to  forty-nine.     The  pay- 


THE   CIVIL   WAR.  259 

ment  of  $700  procured  from  Worcester  seven  of  her 
surplus  men,  who,  with  one  otherwise  procured,  filled 
the  quota.  Later  in  the  year,  certificates  of  exemption 
having  been  procured  for  eighty-three  citizens,  the  quota 
was  reduced  to  nineteen.  The  town  thus  had  a  surplus 
to  her  credit  of  thirty  men,  which  was  further  in- 
creased by  the  enlistment  of  the  Rev.  Gilbert  Cummings, 
pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  who  was  commissioned 
chaplain  of  the  Fifty-first  Regiment.  The  seven  men 
secured  from  Worcester  were  returned,  ten  were  trans- 
ferred to  the  credit  of  Shrewsbury  on  payment  of  $1,250, 
and  the  remaining  fourteen  would  likewise  have  been 
transferred,  had  not  an  order  been  issued  forbidding  this 
practice  of  "  selling  "  men. 

In  addition  to  those  already  named,  the  following 
Westborough  men  entered  the  United  States  service  in 
1862:  — 

Lewis  H.  Boutelle.  Thomas  R.  Hazzard. 

Warren  L.  Brigham.  James  Mahoney. 

Patrick  Burns.  John  Morin. 

Patrick  Burns  (2).  George  B.  Morse. 

Allen  W.  Cross.  Henry  G.  Rice. 

George  L.  Davis.  John  Rice. 

William  Denny.  Charles  A.  Rice. 

James  Doherty.  John  W.  Sanger. 

Benjamin  N.  Fairbanks.  J.  Henry  Stone. 

William  Fisher.  George  H.  Stone. 

Charles  O.  Greenwood.  Frank  A.  Stone. 

Francis  Hanley.  Samuel  Woodside. 

On  the  field  of  battle  during  the  year  1862  the  men 
from  Westborough  had  suffered  severely.  James  H.  Sul- 
livan was  the  first  to  fall.  He  had  enlisted  August  I2, 
1 86 1,  in  Company  K,  Twenty-first  Regiment  In  the 
battle  of  Newbern,  N.  C,  March  14,  1862,  he  was  shot 


260  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

through  the  neck  and  killed.  On  August  30  the  second 
battle  of  Bull  Run  took  place ;  and  there  the  Thirteenth 
Regiment,  which  had  been  engaged  in  picket  duty  be- 
tween the  Rappahannock  and  Manassas,  suffered  con- 
siderable loss.  Among  the  killed  were  two  Westborough 
men, — Thomas  Copeland  and  Hollis  H.  Fairbanks;  and 
four,  Alden  Lovell,  William  Forbush,  Isaiah  H.  Beals, 
and  Wallace  H.  Cushman,  were  among  the  wounded. 
Upon  receiving  news  of  the  battle,  B.  B.  Nourse,  accom- 
panied by  J.  F.  B.  Marshall,  was  despatched  to  Washing- 
ton with  hospital  stores  furnished  by  the  Soldiers'  Sewing 
Society.  The  wounded  men  were  found  in  the  hospitals, 
and  reported  themselves  well  cared  for.  The  delegates 
paid  a  visit  to  the  camp  of  the  Thirty-fourth  Regiment 
at  Alexandria,  Va.,  and  to  that  of  the  Thirteenth  Regi- 
ment at  Leesboro',  Md.  The  Westborough  men  in  the 
former  regiment,  they  reported,  were  "  well  and  in  a 
cheerful  condition ;  "  but  those  in  the  Thirteenth  were 
"  quite  destitute."  They  had  lost  their  knapsacks  at  Bull 
Run,  their  clothing  was  unfit  for  wear,  and  the  heat  and 
dust  gave  them  a  "very  uncomfortable  appearance."  A 
few  days  later  the  regiment  took  part  in  the  battle  of 
Antietam,  and  several  Westborough  men  —  among  them 
George  E.  Hartwell,  William  H.  Sibley,  William  W.  Fay, 
Henry  A.  Fairbanks,  and  Abner  R.  Greenwood  —  were 
wounded. 

The  year  1862  had  passed  without  bringing  any  signs 
of  a  speedy  ending  of  the  war,  and  the  first  months  of 
1863,  before  the  successes  at  Vicksburg  and  Gettysburg, 
brought  nothing  to  relieve  the  general  depression.  A 
considerable  party  was  clamoring  for  peace  on  any  terms, 
and  their  evil  counsels  became  louder  and  louder.  The 
horrors   of  war,   too,  were   becoming   more  manifest.     It 


THE   CIVIL   WAR.  26I 

became  week  by  week  more  difficult  to  secure  recruits 
for  the  armies.  In  July,  when  the  President  issued 
another  call  for  troops,  a  resort  to  drafting  became 
necessary.  The  quota  of  Westborough  was  forty-four. 
Although  the  town  claimed  to  have  furnished  twenty- 
four  men  more  than  her  just  proportion,  there  was  no 
way  of  having  the  claim  allowed.  One  hundred  and  sixty- 
five  of  her  citizens  had  already  gone  to  the  war.  The 
stirring  appeals  of  orators  at  public  meetings,  and  the 
offer  of  generous  bounties,  were  ineffectual  in  securing 
more.  Harsher  measures  seemed  necessary ;  and  sixty-six 
men  were  accordingly  drafted  into  the  service.  Thirty  of 
these  reported  themselves  and  were  accepted,  of  whom 
twenty-six  paid  commutation,  and  four  went  into  the 
army. 

In  October  came  another  call  for  three  hundred  thou- 
sand men  for  three  years'  service,  and  a  little  later  a  call  for 
two  hundred  thousand  more.  The  quota  of  the  town  was 
thirty-two.  The  courage  and  enthusiasm  of  the  people  had 
been  renewed  by  the  more  hopeful  outlook,  and  the  patri- 
otic young  men,  coming  forward  to  enlist  without  any  pe- 
cuniary inducement  from  the  town,  filled  the  quota.  Six 
enlisted  in  the  Brigade  Band,  Corps  d'Afrique,  which  served 
in  Louisiana  until  the  close  of  the  war.  Their  names  were 
as  follows :  — 

Charles  R.  Brigham.  Solomon  J.  Taft. 

John  Laflin.  John  C.  Wheeler. 

Francis  H.  Sandra.  Charles  H.  Williams. 

Eight  enlisted  in  the  Fifty-sixth  Regiment,  but  were 
afterwards  transferred  to  the  Fifty-seventh  Regiment,  where 
several  of  their  friends  were  serving.  The  list  of  West- 
borough  men  in  Company  B,  Fifty-seventh  Regiment, 
was  as  follows :  — 


262  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

George  S.  Ballou.  John  A.  Hart. 

Albert  Brigham.  James  H.  Holland. 

Calvin  L.  Brigham.  Antonio  Joan. 

Francis  W.  BuUard.  Charles  A.  Kirkup. 

David  N.  Chapin.  Edward  Lowell. 

Patrick  Crowe.  William  Magner. 

Henry  C.  Flagg.  Timothy  G.  Sullivan. 

Willis  A.  Forbes.  Harris  C.  Warren. 

Myron  D.  Green.  Harlan  F.  Witherby. 

In  other  companies  of  the  same  regiment  were,  — 

Herbert  W.  Bond.  Charles  Q.  Lowd. 

John  Copeland.  Jeremiah  W.  Marsh. 

John  Crowe.  John  W.  Sanderson. 

John  Little,  Herbert  O.  Smith. 

During  the  year  1863  other  enlistments  accredited  to 
Westborough  were  as  follows :  — 

Walter  Bailey.  Edwin  A.   Dudley. 

William  Berryhill.  George  W.  Fairbanks. 

Jefferson  K.  Cole.  William  H.  H.  Greenwood. 

Reuben  Delano.  William  Mortimer. 

In  July,  1863,  the  men  who  had  enlisted  in  the  Fifty- 
first  Regiment,  and  in  August  those  in  the  Fiftieth  Re- 
giment, —  forty-three  in  all,  —  returned  to  their  homes 
without  the  loss  of  a  single  Westborough  man.  The  Fifty- 
first  had  been  stationed  in  the  vicinity  of  Newbern,  N.  C, 
where  it  had  suffered  much  from  disease ;  and  the  Fiftieth 
had  taken  part  in  the  siege  of  Port  Hudson  in  Louisiana. 
Although  originally  enlisting  for  nine  months,  at  the  end 
of  that  period  both  regiments  had  volunteered  to  remain 
longer  if  their  services  were  needed.  The  Government 
had  gladly  accepted  their  offer,  and  it  was  nearly  a  year 
after  their  enlistment  when  they  returned  home.  As  for 
the  other  regiments,  the  Thirteenth,  which  contained  at 


THE  CIVIL  WAR.  263 

this  time  about  thirty  Westborough  men,  took  part  in  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  July  1-3.  John  Fly  died  from  the 
effects  of  injuries  there  received,  and  Harvey  C.  Ross  and 
Melvin  H.  Walker  were  severely  wounded.  The  Thirty- 
fourth  Regiment  had  been  engaged  in  garrison,  guard,  and 
escort  duty  near  Washington  and  Alexandria  from  its  mus- 
tering until  July  7,  1862,  and  had  earned  a  wide  reputation 
for  its  proficiency  in  drills,  its  excellent  discipline,  and  its 
neat  quarters.  July  14,  having  driven  out  the  enemy,  it 
took  possession  of  Harper's  Ferry ;  and  although  engaged 
in  no  important  battle  during  1863,  it  did  valuable  duty 
in  that  vicinity. 

In  April,  1864,  —  only  twenty-nine  of  the  sixty-six  men 
drafted  in  July,  1863,  having  been  accepted,  —  the  select- 
men went  to  Washington,  D.  C,  and  succeeded  in  procuring 
recruits  to  make  up  the  deficiency  of  twelve  in  the  quota 
of  the  town.  These  were  secured  by  the  payment  of  $125 
bounty  per  man,  and  $50  for  the  services  of  other  persons. 

During  these  early  months  of  1864,  General  Grant,  who 
had  begun  his  famous  campaign  against  General  Lee,  was 
slowly  advancing  toward  Richmond.  In  order  to  draw 
him  from  his  course.  General  Lee  planned  an  invasion 
of  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania  and  an  advance  toward 
Washington.  The  invasion  was  eventually  repelled  by 
General  Sheridan ;  but  in  May,  when  the  danger  was  at 
its  height,  it  was  decided  to  strengthen  the  defences  of 
Washington  by  sending  forward  all  veteran  troops  who 
were  stationed  in  the  North.  The  State  militia  were  or- 
dered out  to  relieve  the  veterans.  The  company  in  West- 
borough,  under  command  of  Captain  Charles  P.  Winslow, 
promptly  met  the  call,  —  many  of  the  members,  much  to 
their  pecuniary  loss,  leaving  their  business  at  the  shortest 
notice.  The  company,  which  was  known  as  the  Sixth  Un- 
attached, M.  V.  M.,  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  during 


264 


LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


the  whole  of  its  term  of  service,  —  from  May  4  to  Aug.  2, 
1864.     It  contained  the  following  Westborough  men: 


Charles  P.  Winslow,  Captain. 

John  Jones,  First  Lieutenant. 

William  VV.  Fay,  Second  " 

George  W.  Warren,  First  Sergt. 

George  B.  Searles,    Sergeant. 

Gilbert  Cummings,  Jr.,      " 

George  T.  Fay er weather,  " 

Squire  S.  Tidd,  " 

William  M.  Blake,      Corporal. 

Israel  H.  Bullard, 

William  M.  Child, 

Ezra  Churchill,  " 

David  B.  Faulkner,  " 

Albert  A.  Arnold. 

Warren  Bartlett. 

George  N.  Bellows. 

Hiram  C.  Bemis. 

Peter  Boulie. 

Alden  L.  Boynton. 

Ellison  L.  Braley. 

Frank  G.  Braley. 

Silas  H.  Brigham. 

Warren  L.  Brigham. 

Henry  A.  Burnap. 

Frederick  D.  Chase. 

Napoleon  Chevalier. 

Charles  E.  Clark. 

Walter  demons. 

William  H.  Drummond. 

Patrick  Dunn. 

Charles  A.  Fairbanks. 

Freeman  Fairbanks. 

Henry  A.  Fairbanks. 

Festus  Faulkner,  Jr. 

Waldo  L.  Fay. 

William  C.  Fletcher. 


Alonzo  G.  Forbush. 
John  A.  Gilmore. 
Charles  A.  Goss. 
Charles  A.  Harrington. 
Edwin  F.  Harrington. 
Charles  B.  Haskell. 
Bowers  C.  Hathaway. 
Charles  S.  Henry. 
Myron  J.  Horton. 
Charles  S.  Howe. 
John  W.  Howe. 
Edward  Hudson. 
Elijah  C.  Janes. 
Samuel  R.  Jones. 
Charles  W.  Kidder. 
Charles  T.  Lackey. 
Joseph  Lebeau. 
William  C.  Loker. 
Charles  O.  Longley. 
George  A.  Longley. 
Josiah  W.  Miller. 
William  A.  Miller. 
John  W.  Moody. 
Thomas  Murphy. 
Frank  A.  Newton. 
Augustus  F.  Nichols. 
Charles  O.  Parker. 
Charles  H.  Pierce. 
Arthur  W.  Robbins. 
James  F.  Robinson, 
John  T.  Robinson. 
John  G.  Sargent. 
George  W,  Searles. 
Foster  Shambeau. 
Alfred  L.  Trowbridge. 
George  A.  Walker. 


Charles  A.  Ware. 


THE   CIVIL  WAR. 


265 


Just  before  the  return  of  the  Westborough  men  from 
Readville,  the  President  issued  a  call  for  five  hundred 
thousand  men  to  serve  one  year.  The  quota  of  West- 
borough  was  forty-six.  On  the  return  of  the  militia  com- 
pany, Captain  Winslow,  having  obtained  permission  from 
the  State  officials  to  raise  a  company  in  Westborough, 
quickly  secured  sixty-two  enlistments.  Men  from  other 
towns  eagerly  embraced  the  opportunity  to  enlist  in  it, 
and  Captain  Winslow  reported  at  Worcester  with  full 
ranks.  It  was  known  as  Company  E,  Fourth  Heavy  Ar- 
tillery, Mass.  Vols.  The  company  had  been  raised  for  coast 
defence,  under  the  assurance  that  it  would  not  be  called 
beyond  the  limits  of  the  State.  Early  in  August,  however, 
it  was  ordered  to  the  defence  of  Washington,  and  remained 
in  the  neighborhood  of  the  capital  until  its  discharge,  — 
June  17,  1865.  The  volunteers  from  Westborough  were  as 
follows :  — 


Charles  P.  Winslow,  Captain. 
John  Jones,  First  Lieutenant. 
William  W.  Fay,  Second    " 
George  R.  Douglas,  Q.  M.  Sergt. 
George  N.  Bellows,  Sergeant. 
Freeman  Fairbanks, 
Alonzo  G.  Forbush, 
Patrick  Heaphy, 
Charles  M.  Howe, 
Edward  Hudson, 
Frank  G.  Braley,  Corporal. 
Silas  H.  Brigham,        " 
James  Crowe,  " 

Michael  Dolan,  " 

Bernard  Fannon,         " 
Charles  A.  Goss,         " 
George  A.  McKendry,  Corporal, 
Prescott  Sibley,  " 


Daniel  T.  Witherbee,  Corpl. 
George  B.  Lakin,  Musician. 
David  M.  Bailey,  Artificer. 
George  A,  Walker,      " 
John  Q.  Adams. 
George  S.  Aid  rich. 
Warren  Bartlett. 
Robert  Black. 
John  Blanchard. 
John  W.  Bowman. 
George  C  Brigham. 
William  Brown. 
William  J.  Card. 
Michael  Cavey. 
James  Conroy. 
Victor  Coolidge. 
Michael  Crowe. 
James  F.  Durgin. 


266  LATER  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Willard  W.  Fairbanks.  Andrew  Morrissey. 

Patrick  Flinn.  S.  Whitney  Nourse. 

Edward  Keevan.  Michael  O'Dea. 

John  Kelly.  Edmund  H.  Priest. 

Charles  W.  Kidder.  Martin  Quinn. 

Patrick  Kilkenny.  Henry  V.  Richards. 

Charles  H.  Lamson.  Arthur  W.  Robbins. 

Richard  Loughlin.  Thomas  Russell. 

Samuel  W.  Mann.  Patrick  J.  Sheehan. 

William  McCoy.  Thomas  Slattery. 

Timothy  McCue.  Silas  P.  Squier. 

Thomas  McHough.  Jeremiah  Staples. 

Lowell  P.  Mitchell.  George  A.  Walker. 

John  W.  Moody.  Robert  Woodman. 

In  Company  F  of  the  same  regiment  were  — 

George  T.  Fayerweather,  Captain.      William  C.  Loker. 
Samuel  W.  Mann,  First  Lieutenant.     Andrew  Sullivan. 

In  November,  1864,  came  the  national  election.  The 
Republican  party,  having  declared  in  its  platform  that  no 
terms  should  be  given  to  the  rebellious  States  but  uncon- 
ditional surrender,  renominated  President  Lincoln.  The 
Democratic  party  declared  the  war  a  failure,  and  favored 
a  cessation  of  hostilities.  Its  candidate  was  Gen.  George 
B.  McClellan.  The  vote  in  VVestborough  showed  an  in- 
creased majority  for  President  Lincoln,  the  Republican 
electors  receiving  three  hundred  and  twenty-three  votes, 
and  the  Democratic  electors  one  hundred  and  thirty-one. 
The  result  of  the  contest  was  the  triumphant  re-election  of 
President  Lincoln,  and  the  continuation  of  the  war. 

The  last  call  for  volunteers  came  December  19,  1864, 
when  three  hundred  thousand  men  were  wanted  to  fill 
deficiencies  in  former  quotas.  The  quota  of  Westborough 
under  the  former  call  for  five  hundred  thousand  men 
having  been  forty-six,  it  was  thought  that  under  the  pres- 


THE   CIVIL  WAR.  26/ 

ent  call  the  quota  would  be  about  three  fifths  of  that 
number;  and  as  the  selectmen  had  received  an  official 
statement  from  the  Provost-General  of  the  State  that  the 
town  had  a  surplus  of  thirty-five  men  to  its  credit,  they 
were  surprised  to  learn  that,  owing  to  a  reduction  of  the 
number  of  years*  service  for  three  years'  men,  the  town 
would  be  required  to  furnish  twelve  more  recruits.  This 
number,  partly  from  enlistments  and  partly  from  other 
sources,  was  with  some  difficulty  procured. 

In  addition  to  those  previously  named,  the  Westborough 
men  who  enlisted  in  1864  were  as  follows :  — 

William  F.  Blake.  Waldo  L.  Fay. 

Timothy  Driscoll.  George  A.  Lackey. 

Irving  E.  Walker. 

The  following  were  procured  from  out  of  town  to  fill 
quotas :  — 

George  L.  Call.  Frederick  Harrenslayer. 

John  Calverly.  John  K.  Harrison. 

James  D.  Carter.  Thomas  R.  Hazzard. 

Edward  Clements.  James  S.  Kirkup. 

George  L.  Davis.  Robert  H.  Lowheed. 

Godfried  Delevenne.  John  McCarthy. 

James  Fanin.  Richard  McNulty. 

George  W.  Fletcher.  John  Murphy. 

Roland  Graham.  John  Roberts. 
William  Stevens. 

The  year  1864  was  especially  severe  for  the  soldiers 
from  Westborough.  In  the  terrible  battles  of  the  Wil- 
derness, early  in  May,  and  in  those  that  followed  around 
Petersburg,  the  Fifty-seventh  Regiment,  which  was  in  the 
Ninth  Corps  under  General  Burnside,  suffered  great  loss. 
In  the  list  of  killed,  wounded,  and  missing,  were  the 
names  of  two  hundred  and  fifty-one  men.     Of  the  West- 


268  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH, 

borough  boys,  Sergeant  Herbert  W.  Bond,  Jeremiah  W. 
Marsh,  and  WiHiam  H.  H.  Greenwood  were  killed ;  John 
A.  Hart  was  mortally  wounded ;  Francis  W.  Bullard, 
who  had  enlisted  the  preceding  November,  when  scarcely 
sixteen  years  old,  lost  a  leg ;  and  Albert  Brigham,  Tim- 
othy G.  Sullivan,  Calvin  L.  Brigham,  Charles  A.  Kirkup, 
William  Magner,  Daniel  McCarthy,  Myron  D.  Green, 
Antonio  Joan,  Patrick  and  John  Crow,  and  Captain  John 
W.  Sanderson  were  wounded.  The  Fifty-seventh  Regi- 
ment, although  in  active  service  less  than  a  year,  had 
the  third  highest  percentage  of  killed  of  any  regiment 
in  the  war. 

The  veterans  of  the  Thirteenth  Regiment  were  also  in 
the  thick  of  battle  in  the  Wilderness  and  near  Petersburg, 
and  two  Westborough  men,  Lyman  G.  Haskell  and  Michael 
Lynch,  were  wounded.  The  regiment  had  seen  hard  ser- 
vice since  its  departure  from  home  in  the  summer  of 
1 86 1,  but  its  hardships  were  nearly  over.  Early  in  July, 
1864,  it  was  ordered  home,  and  on  the  morning  of  July 
21,  as  the  cars  slowly  passed  the  station  at  Westborough, 
the  veterans  joyfully  threw  their  knapsacks  to  the  plat- 
form. There  was  a  short  delay  in  Boston,  and  on  the 
22d  of  July  the  three  years'  service  was  over.  The  men 
had  done  "  honor  to  themselves  and  the  town  they  so  well 
represented,"  say  the  selectmen  in  their  report,  "...  and 
were  cordially  and  heartily  welcomed  by  their  friends 
and  fellow-citizens." 

Other  regiments  had  also  suffered,  and  men  from  West- 
borough had  tasted  the  horrors  of  Andersonville  and 
Florence.  The  records  show  that  eight,  —  Herbert  O. 
Smith,  William  H.  Blake,  George  S.  Chickering,  Charles 
S.  Carter,  Minot  C.  Adams,  Frank  E.  Kemp,  John  Cope- 
land,    and   Irving   E.  Walker,  —  died  of  "  starvation   and 


THE  CIVIL  WAR. 


269 


neglect "  in  Southern  prisons.  In  the  hospital  at  Wash- 
ington, Timothy  Driscoll  died  of  wounds  on  July  12,  and 
Abner  W.  Haskell,  August  29,  at  Beverly,  N.  J. 

But  the  war  was  nearly  over;  and  in  1865  the  calls 
for  troops  were  no  longer  heard.  There  were,  however, 
a  few  enlistments  accredited  to  Westborough  in  the  early 
weeks  of  the  year,  as  follows :  — 

Aimer  R.  Fairbanks. 
Henry  A.  Freeman. 
James  Hayward. 
Erastus  M.  Lincoln. 


William  E.  Rogers. 
Frank  S.  Stone. 
Edgar  V.  Stone. 
Joseph  W.  Wright. 


The  spring  brought  the  surrender  of  General  Lee  and 
General  Johnston,  and  the  end  of  the  war. 

In  responding  to  the  calls  of  the  President,  Westbor- 
ough had  willingly  and  faithfully  done  her  share.  The 
following  summary  shows  her  contribution  of  soldiers : 


Number  sent  under  call  of  May  3,  1861, 

July  2,  1862, 
Aug.  4,  1862, 
Oct.  17,  1863, 
Feb.  24,  1864, 


} 
March  14,  1864, ) 
to  Readville,  April  4,  1864,  73 

under  call  of  July  18,  1864,  68 


82  for  three  years. 

36  "       "        " 

43  "  nine  months. 

45  "  three  years. 


<-    5 
373 


"  ninety  days. 
"  one  year. 
"  three  years. 
"  one  year. 


Dec.  19,  1864, 

Whole  number  sent  in  response  to  calls 

There  were  also  eleven  men  from  Westborough  in  the 
navy,  as  follows :  — 

Ira  Barker.  Albert  E.  Harlow. 

Samuel  N.  Brigham.  Samuel  B.  Kinders. 

David  N.  Chapin.  Albert  L.  Lowd. 

Patrick  Crowe.  Daniel  McCarthy. 

William  H.  H.  Greenwood.         William  A.  Smith. 
Caleb  Tarr. 


270  LATER  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

The  total  number  of  men  supplied  by  Westborough 
(four  serving  in  both  army  and  navy)  was  three  hundred 
and  thirty-seven ;  but  many  enlisted  twice,  and  some  three 
or  four  times,  so  that  the  total  number  of  enlistments 
accredited  to  the  town  was  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
four.^  According  to  the  official  figures,  Westborough 
furnished  forty-five  men  over  and  above  all  demands. 
Seventeen  of  her  soldiers  were  commissioned  officers. 
Twenty-five  lost  their  lives  in  defending  their  country,  and 
sixty-two  were  more  or  less  severely  wounded.  Of  the 
dead,  fourteen  died  from  wounds,  eight  of  "  starvation 
and  neglect "  in  Southern  prisons,  and  three  others  from 
disease.  The  bodies  of  only  five,  —  William  H.  Blake, 
John  S.  Burnap,  George  C.  Haraden,  William  C.  Loker, 
and  Daniel  B.  Miller, — were  brought  home. 

The  names  of  the  Westborough  soldiers  who  died  in 
their  country's  service  are  as  follows :  — 

Killed. 
Herbert  W.  Bond.  Francis  E.  Hanley. 

Thomas  Copeland.  Henry  A.  Harris. 

Timothy  Driscoll.  John  A.  Hart. 

Hollis  H.  Fairbanks.  Abner  W.  Haskell. 

John  Fly.  Jeremiah  W.  Marsh. 

William  H.  H.  Greenwood.         Daniel  B.  Miller. 
James  H.  Sullivan. 

Died  in  Prison. 
Minot  C.  Adams.  John  Copeland. 

William  H.  Blake.  Francis  E.  Kemp. 

Charles  S.  Carter.  Herbert  O.  Smith. 

George  S.  Chickering.  Irving  E.  Walker. 

1  General  Schouler,  in  his  "Massachusetts  in  the  Rebellion"  (vol.  ii. 
p.  693),  says  that  "  Westborough  furnished  three  hundred  and  forty  men  for 
the  war,  — which  was  a  surplus  of  forty-five  over  and  above  all  demands." 
The  number  of  men,  however,  was  not  secured  from  official  sources,  and 
apparently  refers  to  the  number  of  individuals  rather  than  to  the  number 
of  enlistments. 


THE   CIVIL   WAR.  2/1 

Died  from  Disease. 
John  S.  Burnap.  George  C.  Haraden. 

William  Denny.  William  C.  Loker. 

But  the  sacrifices  were  not  all  made  by  the  men  who 
entered  the  army.  Some  were  kept  at  home  by  duty, 
others  by  age  or  infirmity;  and  there  were  few  citizens, 
it  is  safe  to  say,  who  did  not  make  costly  offerings  for  their 
country's  safety.  The  amount  of  money  expended  by 
the  town  for  war  purposes,  exclusive  of  State  aid,  was 
$23,920;  and  nearly  $18,000,  which  was  afterwards  repaid 
by  the  State,  was  spent  in  assisting  soldiers  and  their 
families.  The  duties  of  the  "  town  fathers,"  especially, 
were  greatly  increased  by  the  necessity  of  procuring  en- 
listments and  caring  for  the  families  of  volunteers.  During 
1 861  and  1862  the  selectmen  were,  Greenleaf  C.  Sanborn, 
Benjamin  B.  Nourse,  and  Silas  B.  Howe;  1863,  Edwin 
Bullard,  Baxter  Forbes,  and  George  H.  Raymond;  1864, 
Edwin  Bullard,  George  H.  Raymond,  and  George  W. 
Parker;  1865,  Edwin  Bullard,  George  H.  Raymond,  and 
Greenleaf  C.  Sanborn. 

The  women,  and  even  the  children,  who  had  their  society 
for  picking  lint  and  winding  bandages,  gave  freely  of  their 
time  and  labor.  In  the  earlier  pages  of  this  chapter  I  spoke 
of  the  work  of  the  Soldiers'  Sewing  Society  in  preparing 
uniforms  for  the  first  recruits.  In  the  fall  of  1861,  in  re- 
sponse to  an  appeal  from  the  Sanitary  Commission,  their 
work  began  again.  Frequent  meetings  for  providing  sup- 
plies and  raising  funds  were  held  until  the  close  of  the  war. 
During  the  year  ending  April  i,  1862,  the  society  collected 
$76.97;  1863,  $391-90;  1864,  $305.67;  1865,  $562.55,— 
a  total  amount  of  $1,337.09.  In  addition,  during  the 
year  ending  April  i,  1862,  the  society  sent  seven  pack- 
ages, containing  about  five  hundred  articles  of  clothing. 


2/2  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

to  the  Sanitary  Commission ;  fifty-six  pairs  of  mittens  to 
Company  K,  Thirteenth  Regiment;  and  twelve  pairs  of 
socks  to  prisoners  at  Richmond.  The  following  year 
it  sent  nine  boxes  of  clothing  and  five  boxes  of  other 
articles  suitable  for  hospital  use  to  the  Sanitary  Com- 
mission; one  barrel  of  clothing  and  one  of  stores  to  the 
Massachusetts  Relief  Association  at  Washington;  and 
two  boxes  to  Company  K,  Thirteenth  Regiment.  The 
contributions  during  1863  were  three  barrels  of  cloth- 
ing to  the  Sanitary  Commission,  more  than  fifty  pairs 
of  socks  to  soldiers  in  various  regiments,  and  one  hun- 
dred towels  to  the  Second  North  Carolina  Regiment. 
In  the  last  year  of  the  society's  existence  it  forwarded 
eight  boxes  of  clothing,  containing  eight  hundred  articles, 
to  the  Christian  Commission,  one  hundred  handkerchiefs 
to  the  Thirty-seventh  United  States  Colored  Troops,  and 
nineteen  and  one  half  barrels  of  vegetables  to  the  Sani- 
tary Commission.  The  officers  of  the  society  for  the 
year  1861-62  are  given  in  another  place.  Mrs.  E.  M. 
Phillips  declined  a  re-election  to  the  presidency  in  1862, 
and  Mrs.  S.  Deane  Fisher  occupied  the  position  until  the 
organization  came  to  an  end  at  the  close  of  war.  Miss 
M.  J.  Marshall,  the  secretary,  resigned  on  removing  from 
town,  Nov.  2,  1863;  Mrs.  A.  N.  Arnold  was  her  succes- 
sor; and  Miss  Mary  E.  Greene  served  as  secretary  and 
treasurer  during  the  last  year. 


The  summer  of  1865,  throughout  the  North,  was  a  joy- 
ful time.  The  great  war  was  over,  and  the  men,  young 
and  old,  who  had  left  the  farm,  the  factory,  or  the 
shop  to  endure  the  privations  and  dangers  of  army  life, 
once   more   responded  to  the  call  of  duty,   and  became 


THE   CIVIL   WAR.  2/3 

peaceful  and  industrious  toilers  among  their  relatives  and 
friends.  The  men  from  Westborough  had  performed  their 
duty  wherever  they  had  been  placed.  If  none  had  risen 
to  high  rank,  at  least  none  had  brought  discredit  on  the 
town  which  sent  them  to  the  war.  The  license  and 
hardships  of  army  life,  it  is  true,  had  unfitted  some  for 
the  pursuits  of  peace ;  but,  with  few  exceptions,  the  men 
who  honored  Westborough  in  the  war  have  done  her 
equal  honor  by  their  orderly,  industrious,  and  useful 
lives   since  its   close. 


CHAPTER    II. 

1861-1865. 

RECORDS    OF    SOLDIERS   IN   THE   CIVIL  WAR. 

''  I  "^HE  following  record  of  each  soldier  furnished  by 
-^  Westborough  during  the  Civil  War  has  been  com- 
piled mainly  from  records  kept  by  the  town  and  from  the 
published  records  of  the  State.  Every  effort  has  been 
made  to  have  the  chapter  as  complete  and  accurate  as 
possible ;  but  in  some  cases  the  authorities  are  conflicting, 
and  in  others  information  is  lacking.  Where  no  rank  is 
given,  the  soldier  served  as  private. 

MiNOT  C.  Adams,  unmarried ;  son  of  Alvin  T.  and  Bethiah  L. ; 
enlisted,  July  15,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  31,  1862, 
in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Upton,  Mass.,  Sept.  24, 
1842  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  taken  prisoner  near  Martins- 
burg,  Va.,  in  May,  1864;  was  carried  to  Andersonville,  Ga.,  and 
thence  to  Florence,  S.  C,  where  he  died,  Nov.  i,  1864,  of  star- 
vation and  neglect. 

John  Q.  Adams,  married;  son  of  James  and  Hopeful;  enlisted, 
Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1S64,  in  Co.  E, 
4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Southbridge,  Mass.,  Jan.  2,  1825; 
occupation,  mechanic.  He  had  his  leg  accidentally  broken ;  was 
discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

William  M.  Aldrich,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Hannibal  S.  and  Mary 
B. ;  enlisted,  July  17,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  31^ 
1862,  in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough, 
May  2,  1844  j  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  at  Rich- 
mond, Va.,  June  16,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 


X 

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RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  2/5 

George  S.  Aldrich,  unmarried ;  son  of  Hannibal  S.  and  Mary 
B. ;  enlisted,  Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864, 
in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom,  Westborough,  Jan.  20, 
1846;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Augustus  Allen,  unmarried;  enlisted,  June  29,  186 1,  for  three 
years  ;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols. ; 
rank,  corporal.  Born,  Franklin,  Mass.,  Oct.  13,  1835  ;  occupation, 
farmer.  He  was  discharged  at  Washington,  D.  C,  Sept.  5,  1862, 
by  reason  of  disability. 

Albert  A.  Arnold,  unmarried ;  son  of  Albert  N.  and  Sarah  A. ; 
enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days  ;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Bom  in  Greece,  1846  ;  oc- 
cupation, student.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was 
discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Charles  W.  Bacon,  unmarried ;  enlisted  July  26,  1862,  for 
three  years ;  mustered,  July  26,  1862,  in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass. 
Vols. ;  wagoner.  Born,  1841  ;  occupation,  hostler.  He  ser\'ed 
as  bugler  after  March,  1S64;  was  discharged  at  Richmond,  Va., 
June  16,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

David  M.  Bailey,  married  ;  enlisted,  Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year ; 
mustered,  Aug.  12,  1S64,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born 
1832  ;  occupation,  carpenter.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
June  1:7,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Walter  Bailey,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Walter  and  Joanna  ;  enUsted, 
July  12,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Sept.  2,  1863,  in  i6th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Haverhill,  N.  H.,  July  2,  1834  ; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  was 
engaged  in  nine  battles;  was  transferred,  July  11,  1864,  to  nth 
Regt.;  was  detailed  as  fifer  in  December,  1864;  and  was  dis- 
charged at  Readville,  Mass.,  July  14,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

George  S.  Ballou,  married  ;  enlisted,  Dec.  9,  1863,  for  three 
years;  mustered,  Jan.  11,  1864,  in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born,  1839 ;  occupation,  bootmaker.  He  was  absent,  sick  in 
hospital,  when  his  regiment  was  mustered  out,  but  was  discharged 
Aug.  8,  1S65,  by  order  of  War  Department. 


2/6  LATER  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Sidney  Barstow,  unmarried  ;  enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three 
years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass,  Vols. 
Born,  Hanover,  Mass.,  1842 ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  dis- 
charged at  Washington,  D.  C,  March  27,  1863,  by  reason  of 
disability. 

Warren  Bartletf,  married  ;  son  of  William  H.  and  Hannah ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Bolton,  Mass.,  Jan.  20,  1839  ; 
occupation,  mechanic.  He  had  previously  served  ninety  days 
(May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  the  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia, 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Isaiah  H.  Beals,  married ;  son  of  Micah  and  Jerusha ;  enlisted, 
April  19,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th 
Regt,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Liverpool,  England,  March  7, 
1830;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  engaged  in  four  battles; 
was  wounded  in  the  head  at  the  battle  of  the  Rappahannock, 
Aug.  22,  1862  ;  was  discharged  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Oct.  5, 
1862,  by  reason  of  disability  caused  by  wound.  Dec.  5,  1863,  he 
was  mustered  as  corporal  in  59th  Regt.,  Co.  H  ;  was  engaged  in 
two  battles;  was  transferred  to  the  57th  Regt.,  June  i,  1865,  and 
was  discharged  at  Delaney  House,  D.C.,  July  30,  1865,  at  the 
close  of  war. 

George  N.  Bellows,  unmarried ;  son  of  Newell  and  Emily  ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year  ;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co. 
E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols,  ;  rank,  2d  sergeant.  Born,  W^estborough, 
June  16,  1835  ;  occupation,  butcher.  He  had  previously  served 
ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  as  private  in  6th  Unattached 
Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.  He  was  dis- 
charged, Feb.  21,  1865,  by  reason  of  disability. 

Hiram  C.  Bemis,  unmarried ;  son  of  Willard  and  Eleanor ;  en- 
listed, April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Hopkinton,  Mass., 
Nov.  7,  1844;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  stationed  at 
Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration 
of  term. 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  2// 

Dexter  W.  Bennett,  unmarried ;  enlisted,  Aug.  27,  1862,  for 
nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M. 
V.  M.  Bom,  1841  ;  occupation,  teamster.  He  was  discharged  at 
Newbern,  N.  C,  March  3,  1863,  on  account  of  disability. 

William  Berryhill,  of  Pennsylvania,  procured  by  the  select- 
men to  fill  quota ;  enlisted  for  three  years.  It  is  not  known  what 
organization  he  joined. 

Robert  Black,  married ;  son  of  Joseph  and  Isabella ;  enlisted, 
Aug-  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E, 
4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  1820  ;  occupation,  farmer. 
He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  1 7,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

William  P,  Blackmer,  married;  enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for 
three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass. 
Vols.;  rank,  captain.  Born,  Norwich,  Ct.,  1830;  occupation, 
clergyman.  He  resigned  Oct.  17,  1861,  and  his  resignation  was 
accepted  Nov.  7,  186 1. 

William  M.  Blake,  married ;  son  of  Joseph  and  Eliza ;  enlisted, 
April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered.  May  4,  1864,  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia  ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  Roxbury, 
Mass.,  Oct.  2,  1820  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  stationed  at 
Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration 
of  service. 

William  F.  Blake,  unmarried ;  son  of  William  M.  and  Emily 
H. ;  enlisted,  Aug.  13,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Sept.  15, 
1864,  in  2d  Regt.,  Co.  E,  R.  I.  Vols.  Born,  Boston,  Mass.,  April 
29,  1848  ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  served  in  Anny  of  the  Potomac  ; 
was  engaged  in  five  battles ;  and  was  discharged  at  Hall  Hills,  Va., 
July  I,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

William  H.  Blake,  unmarried  ;  enlisted,  July  24,  1862,  for  three 
years  ;  mustered,  July  25,  1862,  in  34th  Regt,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born,  1844;  occupation,  wheelwright.  He  died  while  prisoner 
of  war  at  Harrisonburgh,  Va.,  June  5,  1864,  of  wounds  received 
May  15,  1864. 

Charles  W.  Blanchard,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Oct.  25,  1861, 
for  three  years;  mustered,  Oct.  25,  1861,  in  Co.  I,  25th  Regt., 
Mass.  Vols.     Bom,  1842  ;  occupation,  pedler.     He  was  wounded 


2/8  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

in  the  hand  at  the  battle  of  Newbern,  N.  C,  and  was  discharged  at 
Boston,  Oct.  20,  1S64,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  Blanchard,  enlisted  for  one  year;   mustered,  Aug.    12, 

1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.     Born,  1832.     He  was  dis- 
charged in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  S.  Bond,  married  ;  son  of  Leonard  E.  and  Harriet ;  en- 
listed, Sept.  II,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Sept.  23,  1861,  in 
band  of  22d  Regt.  Born,  Portland,  Me.,  Aug.  i,  1828;  occupa- 
tion, barber.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  and  was  dis- 
charged at  Washington,  D.  C,  June  1 1, 1862,  by  reason  of  disability. 

Herbert  W.  Bond,  unman-ied ;  son  of  Leonard  E.  and  Harriet ; 
enlisted,  Dec.  14,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1S64,  i^ 
57th  Regt.,  Co.  H,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  sergeant.  He  was  wounded 
in  the  breast  at  battle  of  Wilderness,  Va.,  May  6,  1864,  was  re- 
ported missing,  and  probably  died  on  the  field. 

Peter  Boulie,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Frank  and  Florence  ;  enlisted, 
April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  St.  John,  Can.,  July  16, 
1844;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Lewis  H.  Boutelle,  married;  enlisted,  Sept.  15,  1862,  for  nine 
months;  mustered,  Sept.  26,  1S62,  in  45th  Regt.,  Co.  A,  M. 
V.  M.  Born,  1826  ;  occupation,  lawyer.  He  was  stationed  at 
Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  July  7,  1863,  at  expiration 
of  service. 

John  W.  Bowman,  married  ;  son  of  Emory  and  Susan  ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E, 
4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  Westborough,  Dec.  27,  1838 ;  oc- 
cupation, shoemaker.     He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17, 

1865,  by  reason  of  the  close  of  war. 

Alden  L.  Bovnton,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Reuben  and  A.  H.  ;  en- 
listed, April  30,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered.  May  4,  1864,  in 
6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Bom,  Westborough,  Jan.  2, 
1844  ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass., 
and  was  discharged,  Aug  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  279 

Ellison  L.  Braley,  married ;  son  of  Gibbs  and  Levina ;  enlisted, 
April  28,  1S64,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  HoUiston,  Mass.,  June  29, 
1834  ;  occupation,  click.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass., 
and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1 S64,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Frank  G.  Braley,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Gibbs  and  Levina ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  Holliston, 
Mass.,  March  19,  1842  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  dis- 
charged in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war.  He  had 
previously  served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

Charles  E.  Brigham,  unmarried ;  son  of  Elmer  and  Betsey  C. ; 
enlisted,  July  14,  1862,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July  31,  1862, 
in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  March  14, 
1842  ;  occupation,  machinist.  He  was  promoted  corporal ;  was 
discharged,  in  the  field,  Jan.  14,  1865,  that  he  might  accept  pro- 
motion to  ist  lieutenant  in  25th  U.  S.  Colored  Troops;  and  was 
afterwards  made  captain. 

Calvin  L.  Brigham,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Elmer  and  Betsey  C ; 
enlisted,  Nov.  23,  1863,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864,  in 
57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  July  30, 
1844;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  wounded  before  Petersburg, 
June  24,  1864,  in  left  foot,  and  was  discharged  at  Worcester, 
Mass.,  June  26,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Dexter  P.  Brigham,  unmarried ;  son  of  Dexter  (2d)  and 
Martha  W. ;  enhsted,  July  11,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered, 
July  31,  1862,  in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westbor- 
ough, Oct.  14,  1843  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  engaged  in 
sixteen  battles  ;  was  wounded  in  left  foot  at  battle  of  Stickney's 
Farm,  Va.,  Oct.  13,  1864  ;  was  promoted  to  corporal;  and  was 
discharged  at  Richmond,  Va.,  June  15,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Albert  Brigham,  unmarried ;  son  of  Dexter  (2d)  and  Martha 
W.  ;  enlisted,  Nov.  25,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  4, 
1864,  in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom,  Westborough,  July 
II,  1845;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  wounded  in  left  arm  at 
battle  of  Spottsylvania,  Va.,  May  i,  1864,  and  was  discharged  at 


280  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

Washington,  D.  C,  June  lo,  1865,  on  account  of  disability  caused 
by  wound. 

Charles  R.  Brigham,  unmarried ;  son  of  Harrison  F.  and 
Susan  T. ;  enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July 
16,  1 86 1,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Boston,  Mass., 
1842  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  in  the  field, 
May  23,  1862,  by  reason  of  disability  ;  afterwards  served  twenty- 
two  months  in  Brigade  Band,  Corps  d'Afrique,  stationed  in 
Louisiana. 

George  C.  Brigham,  immarried  ;  son  of  Harrison  F.  and  Susan 
T.  ;  enlisted,  Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year  ;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864, 
in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  Jan.  3, 
1849  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Harrison  M.  Brigham,  unmarried ;  son  of  Jonas  B.  and  Lu- 
cinda  ;  enlisted,  June  27,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16, 

1 86 1,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Grafton,  Mass., 
Feb.  4,  1838  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  transferred  to  Veteran 
Reserve  Corps,  Feb.  15,  1864;  and  was  discharged  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  July  16,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Silas  H.  Brigham,  unmarried ;  son  of  Jonas  B.  and  Lucinda ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  a.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Grafton,  Mass.,  Jan.  5,  1844  ; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  promoted  to  corporal,  and  was  dis- 
charged in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war.  He  had 
previously  served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

Francis  A.  Brigham,  son  of  Lincoln  and  Susannah  M. ;  enlisted, 
June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  Nov.  6,  1838; 
occupation,  carpenter.     He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  April  2, 

1862,  by  reason  of  disabiUty.  He  was  afterward  mustered,  Sept. 
25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  He  served  in  North 
Carolina  and  Maryland  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Worcester,  Mass., 
July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Warren  L.  Brigham  (enlistment  accredited  to  Chicopee,  Mass.), 
unmarried ;   son  of  John  W.  and  Martha  E. ;    enlisted,  Sept.  9, 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  28 1 

1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  46th  Regt., 
Co.  D,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Oakham,  Mass.,  Jan.  25,  1846  ;  occu- 
pation, clerk.     He  was  discharged  at  Newbem,  N.  C,  May  28, 

1863,  by  reason  of  disability.  He  afterward  served  ninety  days 
(May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia, 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

William  Brown,  enlisted,  Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mus- 
tered, Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in 
Ireland,  1844;  occupation,  currier.  He  was  discharged  in  Vir- 
ginia, June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Emory  Bullard,  married ;  son  of  Martin  and  Nabby  ;  enlisted, 
June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  1824;  occupation, 
shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  in  the  field,  May  10,  1862,  on 
account  of  disability. 

ISR.^EL  H.  Bullard,  married;  son  of  Samuel  A.  and  Mindwell; 
enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered.  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia;  rank,  corporal.  Born, 
Saxonville,  Mass.,  March  31,  1825  ;  occupation,  carpenter.  He 
was  stationed  at  Readville,  !Mass,  and  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  term. 

Martin  Bullard,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Aug.  28,  1862,  for  nine 
months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M. 
V.  M.  Bom,  1844  ;  occupation,  carpenter.  He  was  discharged  at 
Worcester,  Mass.,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Francis  W.  Bullard,  unmarried ;  son  of  Abner  W.  and 
Annette  ;  enlisted,  Nov.  19,  1863,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Jan. 
4,  1864,  in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough, 
Aug.  23,  1847  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  wounded  and  taken 
prisoner  at  battle  of  Wilderness,  Va.,  May  6,  1S643  ^^d  l^ft  leg 
amputated  by  Southern  surgeons.  May  8,  1864  ;  was  kept  in  Lynch- 
burg from  June  2  to  Sept.  24,  and  in  Richmond  from  Sept.  24  to 
Oct.  7,  1864;  was  paroled  Oct.  7,  1864;  had  leg  re-amputated  at 
Dale  U.  S.  General  Hospital,  Worcester,  Mass.,  July  7,  1865  ;  and 
was  discharged  at  Boston,  Nov.  23,  1865,  by  reason  of  disability. 

Charles  B.  Burgess  (enlistment  accredited  to  Abington,  Mass.), 
enlisted  for  three  years;  mustered,  Sept.  21,  1861,  in  24th  Regt., 


282  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1839;  occupation,  hostler.  He  was 
discharged,  Dec.  18,  1863,  to  re-enlist. 

John  S.  Burnap,  unmarried ;  son  of  Albert  J.  and  Sarah  E. ; 
enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  Aug.  18, 
1840;  occupation,  painter.  He  died  at  Williamsport,  Md.,  of 
exposure,  Dec.  10,  1861. 

Henry  A.  Burnap,  unmarried;  son  of  Albert  J.  and  Sarah  E. ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  25,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25, 
1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Westborough, 
Nov.  3,  1843  J  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  discharged  at  Worces- 
ter, Mass.,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service.  He  afterward 
served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th  Unattached 
Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

John  Burns  (procured  from  Abington,  Mass.),  unmarried;  en- 
listed, June  29,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July  16,  1S61,  in 
13th  Regt.,  Co.  E,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom,  Ireland,  1840  ;  occupation, 
hostler.     Deserted  at  Sharpsburg,  Md.,  Aug.  23,  186 1. 

James  Burns,  unmarried ;  son  of  James  and  Catherine ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  13,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  29,  1862, 
in  50th  Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M.  Born  in  Ireland,  April  14,  1839; 
occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Wenham,  Mass., 
Aug.  24,   1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Patrick  Burns,  married ;  enlisted  for  three  years  ;  mustered, 
July  3,  1862,  in  25th  Regt.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  1S35; 
occupation,  shoemaker.  The  State  records  do  not  account  for  him 
after  his  enlistment. 

Patrick  Burns  (accredited  to  Manchester,  N.  H.),  married; 
son  of  Michael  and  Mary  ;  enlisted,  Aug.  15,  1862,  for  three  years  ; 
mustered,  Sept.  i,  1862,  in  loth  Regt.,  Co.  F,  N.  H.  Vols. ;  rank, 
corporal.  Born  in  Ireland,  March  15,  1833:  occupation,  shoe- 
maker. He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac  ;  was  wounded  across 
the  back  at  the  battle  of  Fredericksburg,  Va.,  Dec.  13,  1862  ;  and 
was  discharged  at  Washington,  D.  C,  on  account  of  disability 
caused  by  wound.  He  afterward  enlisted  (accredited  to  Wind- 
ham, N.  H.)  in  the  nth  N.  H.  Infantry;  was  engaged  in  eight 
battles ;  was  wounded  at  Drury's  Bluff,  Va ,  in  left  hip ;  and  was 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  283 

discharged  at  Philadelphia,  Pa.,  Jan.  i,  1865,  on  account  of  dis- 
ability caused  by  wound. 

George  L.  Call  (procured  by  the  selectmen  from  Charlestown, 
Mass.,  to  fill  quota),  enlisted  for  three  years.  It  is  not  known 
what  organization  he  joined. 

John  Calverly  (procured  by  the  selectmen  from  out  of  town 
to  fill  quota),  enlisted  for  three  years.  It  is  not  known  what 
organization  he  joined. 

William  J.  Card,  married ;  son  of  George  and  Sarah  C. ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  Nova  Scotia,  Dec.  12,  1823  ; 
occupation,  blacksmith.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17, 
1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Andrew  P.  Carter,  married  ;  son  of  Nehemiah  ;  enlisted,  Sept. 
8,  1862,  for  nine  months  ;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt, 
Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  1838;  occupation,  painter.  He  was 
discharged  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of 
service. 

Charles  S.  Carter,  unmarried ;  son  of  George  and  Nancy ; 
enlisted,  July  14,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug.  2,  1862, 
in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom,  Lancaster,  Mass.,  July 
23,  1843  ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  taken  prisoner  at  battle  of 
Newmarket,  Va.,  May  15,  1864  ;  was  carried  to  Andersonville, 
Ga.,  and  thence  to  Florence,  S.  C,  where  he  died,  Oct.  26,  1864, 
of  starvation  and  neglect. 

James  D.  Carter  (procured  by  the  selectmen  from  out  of 
town  to  fill  quota),  enlisted  for  three  years.  It  is  not  known  what 
organization  he  joined. 

Thomas  Gary,  married ;  son  of  John  and  Joanna  ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  13,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  29,  1862,  in 
50th  Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Ireland,  1835;  occupation, 
shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Wenham,  Mass.,  Aug.  24,  1863. 
at  expiration  of  service. 

Patrick  Casey,  married ;  son  of  John  and  Mary ;  enlisted,  Aug. 
13,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  29,  1862,  in  50th 
Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M.      Bom  in  Ireland,  June,  1828  ;   occupa- 


284  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

tion,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Wenham,  Mass.,  Aug. 
24,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Michael  Cavey,  married ;  son  of  Connors  and  Joanna ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  12,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  M.  V.  M.  Bom  in  Ireland,  April  16,  1830; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865, 
at  the  close  of  war. 

Spencer  Chamberlain,  unmarried ;  son  of  William  and  Betsey ; 
enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  i86i, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  North  Woodstock,  Ct., 
Sept.  9,  1828;  occupation,  boot-treer.  He  was  on  extra  duty  in 
Chief  Q.  M.  Department  after  March  29,  1862  ;  and  was  discharged 
at  Boston,  Aug.  i,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

David  N.  Chapin,  unmarried ;  son  of  Marvel  and  Caroline ; 
enlisted,  Dec.  31,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864, 
in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  Sept.  12, 
1837;  occupation,  painter.  He  was  promoted  to  corporal;  and 
was  discharged  at  Washington,  D.  C,  July  7,  1864,  by  reason  of 
disability, 

Lorenzo  A.  Chapman,  married  ;  son  of  Adams  A.  and  Betsey  ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  14,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug.  15,  1862, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Princeton,  Mass.,  April 
30,  1825  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Boston, 
Aug.  I,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Frederick  D.  Chase,  unmarried ;  son  of  David  and  Sylvia ; 
enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered.  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Bom,  Graft  on,  Mass.,  Oct. 
4,  1846  ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass., 
and  was  discharged  Aug.  2,  1 864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Napoleon  Chevalier,  enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days  ; 
mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born 
in  Canada,  1 846  ;  occupation,  shoe-finisher.  He  was  stationed  at 
Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration 
of  service. 

George  S.  Chickering,  unmarried  ;  enlisted,  July  31,  1862,  for 
three  years ;  mustered,  July  31,  1862,  in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass, 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  285 

Vols.    Born,  1 844  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.    He  died  at  Florence, 
S.  C,  while  prisoner  of  war,  Nov.  i,  1864. 

William  M.  Child,  married  ;  son  of  Thomas  and  Abial ;  en- 
listed, April  30,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  Ux- 
bridge,  Mass.,  March  13,  1827;  occupation,  merchant.  He  was 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  service. 

Ezra  Churchill,  married ;  son  of  Isaac  and  Mary  G.,  enlisted, 
April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered.  May  4,  1864,  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia  ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  Plympton, 
Mass.,  Jan.  18,  1827  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  stationed 
at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expu-ation 
of  service. 

Charles  E.  Clark,  unmarried ;  son  of  Franklin  and  Mariette ; 
enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days  ;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Springfield,  Mass., 
Dec.  24, 1840  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Edward  Clements  (procured  by  the  selectmen  from  out  of 
town  to  fill  quota)  ;  enlisted  for  three  3'ears.  It  is  not  known 
what  organization  he  joined. 

Walter  Clemons,  unmarried,  enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety 
days;  mustered,  May  4,  1862,  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Mih- 
tia.  Born,  Worcester,  Mass.,  1846;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  service. 

Jefferson  K.  Cole,  married  ;  enlisted  for  three  years ;  mustered, 
July  14,  1863,  in  i8th  Regt,  Co.  G,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1839; 
occupation,  teacher.  He  was  transferred  to  i8th  Mass.  Battalion, 
July  19,  1864,  and  thence  to  32d  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.,  Oct. 
26,  1864,  and  was  discharged  at  Washington,  D.  C,  June  29, 
1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

James  Conroy,  unmarried ;  son  of  Peter  and  Elizabeth ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.   A.,  Mass.  Vols.     Born  in  Ireland,  Nov.,   1845  ') 


286  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGII. 

occupation,  crimper.     He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17, 
1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Victor  Coolidge,  married ;  son  of  Maynard  and  Mary ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  6,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom  in  Canada,  Jan.  31,  1838  ; 
occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17, 
1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

John  Copeland,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Thomas  and  Ann  ;  enlisted, 
May  10,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1S61,  in  13th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  Aug.  10,  1840 ; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  taken  prisoner  at  second  battle  of 
Bull  Run,  Aug.  30,  1862,  and  paroled  five  days  after,  and  was 
discharged  at  Alexandria,  Va.,  Jan.  7, 1863,  by  reason  of  disability. 
In  April,  1864,  he  enlisted  in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  A,  Mass.  Vols.; 
was  wounded  in  arm  and  thigh,  and  taken  prisoner,  at  battle  of 
Wilderness,  Va.,  May  6,  1864;  was  sent  to  Richmond,  Va., 
and  thence  to  Georgia,  where  he  is  supposed  to  have  died  of 
starvation. 

Thomas  Copeland,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Thomas  and  Ann  ;  en- 
listed, April  19,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in 
13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom  in  Ireland,  Nov.  13,  1842  ; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  shot  twice  through  the  body  at  the 
battle  of  Centreville,  Va.,  Aug.  30,  1862,  and  died  seven  hours 
after  in  an  unoccupied  house  near  the  field. 

Allan  W.  Cross,  married  ;  son  of  Thomas  W.  and  Mary ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  7,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug.  27,  1862, 
in  36th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  at  Hanover,  N.  H.,  Aug. 
7,  1837  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  served  in  armies  of  the  Poto- 
mac, the  Ohio,  and  the  Tennessee  ;  was  engaged  in  fifteen  battles  ; 
was  promoted  corporal,  sergeant,  ist  sergeant,  and  ist  lieutenant ; 
and  was  discharged  at  Alexandria,  Va.,  June  8,  1865,  at  the 
close  of  war. 

Patrick  Crowe,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Michael  and  Ellen  ;  enlisted, 
Dec.  29,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864;  rank, 
corporal.  Born  in  Ireland,  1842  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He 
served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac  ;  was  wounded  in  left  leg  and  spine 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  28/ 

at  battle  of  Wilderness,  Va.,  May  6,  1864;  and  was  discharged 
at  Delaney  House,  D.   C,   July  30,   1865,  at  dose  of  war. 

Michael  Crowe,  unmarried ;  son  of  Michael  and  Ellen ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland  ;  occupation,  boot- 
maker. He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1S65,  at  the  close 
of  war. 

James  Crowe,  unmarried  ;  son  of  John  and  Ann  ;  enlisted,  Aug. 
9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H. 
A,,  M.  V.  M. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born  in  Ireland,  Aug.  18,  1842  ; 
occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  1 7, 
1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

John  Crowe,  unmarried  ;  son  of  John  and  Ann  ;  enlisted,  March 
17,  1864,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  April  6,  1864,  in  57th  Regt., 
Co.  I,  Mass,  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  March  10,  1843  j  occupa- 
tion, sailor.  He  was  wounded  at  battle  of  Wilderness,  Va.,  May  6, 
1864,  in  right  hand,  and  in  the  same  member  at  Fort  Steadman, 
Va.,  March  29,  1865.  He  was  discharged  at  Delaney  House,  D.  C, 
July  30,   1865,  at  close  of  war. 

John  H.  Crowley,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Peter  and  Margaret  M. ; 
enlisted.  May,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  186 1,  in 
13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  East  Boston,  Januar}',  1839  ; 
occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  discharged  at  Boston,  Aug.  i, 
1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Gilbert  Cummings,  Jr.,  married  ;  enlisted,  November,  1862,  for 
nine  months;  mustered,  Nov.  14,  1862  in  51st  Regt.,  M.  V.  M. ; 
chaplain.  Born,  Boston,  Mass. ;  occupation,  clergyman.  He 
served  in  North  Carolina,  and  was  discharged  at  Worcester,  Mass., 
July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  term.  He  afterward  served  ninety 
days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  as  sergeant  in  6th  Unattached  Com- 
pany, Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

Wallace  H.  Cushman,  unmarried  ;  son  of  William  C.  and  Sarah ; 
enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.;  rank,  corporal.  Bom,  Phil- 
lips, Me.,  Feb.  26,  1841  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was 
wounded  at  Centreville,  Va.,  and  was  discharged  at  Newark, 
N.  J.,  March  23,  1863,  by  reason  of  disability. 


288  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Theodore  L.  Davis,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Aug.  26,  1862,  for 
nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E, 
M.  V,  M.  Bom,  1840;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  dis- 
charged at  Worcester,  Mass.,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of 
service. 

George  L.  Davis  is  said  to  have  enlisted  in  the  12th  Regiment^ 
but  his  name  does  not  appear  on  the  rolls. 

William  Dee,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Matthew  and  Alice  ;  enlisted, 
Sept.  25,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Oct.  5,  1861,  in  band 
of  22d  Regt.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  Jan.  19,  1829;  oc- 
cupation, shoemaker.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac  ;  was 
engaged  in  five  battles ;  and  was  discharged  at  Harrison's  Land- 
ing, Va.,  Aug.  II,  1862,  by  order  of  War  Department. 

John  Dee,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Matthew  and  Alice  ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  13,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  30,  1862,  in 
50th  Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M.  Bom  in  Ireland,  March  2,  1838; 
occupation,  bootmaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Wenham,  Mass., 
Aug.  24,   1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Reuben  Delano,  enlisted,  Nov.  25,  1S62,  for  three  years; 
mustered,  Dec.  5,  1862,  in  59th  Regt.,  Co.  A,  Mass.  Vols.  Born, 
1840;  occupation,  sailor.  He  was  transferred  to  57th  Regt.,  Co. 
A,  Mass.  Vols.,  and  was  discharged  at  Delaney  House,  D.  C., 
July  30,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

GoDFRiED  Delevenne  (sccured  from  out  of  town  to  fill  quota), 
enlisted  for  three  years  in  Veteran  Reserve  Corps. 

William  Denny,  unmarried ;  enlisted  for  three  years ;  mus- 
tered, Aug  28,  1861,  in  19th  Regt.,  Co.  H,  Mass.  Vols.  Born, 
1843;  occupation,  laborer.  He  died,  June  10,  1S62,  in  Carver 
Hospital,  of  typhoid  fever. 

James  Dohertv  (accredited  to  Milford),  married  ;  enlisted,  July 
17,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug.  6,  1862,  in  33d  Regt., 
Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom,  1830;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He 
was  missing  after  Feb.  14,  1865,  and  is  supposed  to  have  been 
burned  to  death  while  foraging  near  Columbia,   S.  C. 

Michael  Dolan,  unmarried ;  son  of  Timothy  and  Betsey ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  13,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  29,  1862, 


RECORDS  OF  SOLDIERS.  289 

in  50th  Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M.  Born  in  Ireland,  Sept.  8,  1841  ; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  at  Wenham,  Mass.,  Aug. 
24,  1863,  at  expiration  of  term.  He  afterward  served  ten  months 
(Aug.  12,  1864,  to  June  16,  1865)  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  M.  V.  M. 
He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Ira  L.  Donovan,  unmarried;  enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three 
years ;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  ; 
wagoner.  Born,  Hookset,  N.  H.,  1839  ;  occupation,  laborer.  He 
was  on  extra  duty  in  Q.  M.  Dept.  during  entire  term,  and  was  dis- 
charged at  Boston,  Aug.  i,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Jackson  Donovan,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Jeremiah  and  Mary ;  en- 
listed, Nov.  18,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Nov.  18,  1861,  in 
3 2d  Regt.,  Co.  A,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Canton,  Pa.,  July  14,  1839  ; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  was  en- 
gaged in  twenty-two  battles  ;  was  prisoner  two  days  at  Appomattox 
Court  House,  Va.  ;  and  was  discharged,  Jan.  4,  1864,  to  re-enlist. 
Discharged  at  Boston,  July  14,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Byron  Donovan,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Jeremiah  and  Mary ;  en- 
listed, July  28,  1862,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Aug.  2,  1862,  in 
34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  at  Canton,  Pa.,  July  11, 
1842  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  engaged  in  three  battles  ;  was 
detailed  as  chief  orderly  at  Annapolis,  Md. ;  and  was  discharged 
at  Annapolis,  July  i,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

George  R.  Douglass,  unmarried  ;  son  of  George  and  Helen  B. ; 
enlisted,  April  29,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  New  York,  N.  ¥.,  Nov. 
5,  1840  ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  detailed  as  clerk  in  Gen. 
Com.  Dept. ;  and  was  discharged  at  Washington,  D.  C,  Jan.  29, 
1863,  by  reason  of  disability.  He  afterward  served  eleven  months 
as  Q.  M.  Sergeant  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  M.  V.  M.  He  was  dis- 
charged in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Charles  Drayton,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Thomas  and  Jane  ;  en- 
listed, June  29,  i86r,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in 
13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  M.  V.  M.  Bom,  North  Bridgewater;  occupa- 
tion, painter.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac  ;  was  promoted 
corporal,  Sept.  12, 1862  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Washington,  D.  C, 
March  30,  1863,  by  reason  of  disability. 


290  LATER  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Timothy  Driscoll  (of  Holliston,  Mass.),  unmarried;  son  of 
James  and  Ella;  enlisted,  Jan.  4,  1864,  for  three  years  ;  mustered, 
Jan.  14,  1864,  in  59th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1845  ; 
occupation,  shoemaker.  He  died  at  Washington,  D.  C,  July  12, 
1864,  from  the  effects  of  an  accident  on  the  field  of  battle. 

William  H.  Drummond,  unmarried  ;  enlisted,  April  28,  1S64,  for 
ninety  days  ;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company, 
Militia.  Born,  Thomaston,  Me.,  1845  ;  occupation,  seaman.  He 
was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2, 
1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Edwin  A.  Dudley  (enlistment  accredited  to  city  of  Boston), 
unmarried;  son  of  Curtis  and  Olive;  enlisted,  Sept.  17,  1863,  for 
three  years;  mustered,  Oct.  8,  1863,  ^^  Co.  F,  2d  H.  A.,  Mass. 
Vols.  Born,  1845  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged,  Sept. 
3,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Patrick  Dunn,  unmarried  ;  enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety 
days  ;  mustered.  May  4,  1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia. 
Born,  Ireland,  1842  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  stationed 
at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration 
of  service. 

James  F.  Durgin,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Aug.  it,  1864,  for  one 
year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. 
Bom,  Eaton,  N.  H.,  1844 ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  dis- 
charged, June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Thomas  B.  Dyer,  unmarried  ;  enlisted,  July  19,  1861,  for  three 
years;  mustered,  July  19,  1861,  in  21st  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born,  1842;  occupation,  printer.  He  was  discharged,  Jan.  i,  1864, 
to  re-enlist.  He  re-enHsted  for  three  years,  Jan.  i,  1864;  was 
transferred  to  Co.  K,  36th  Regt.,  Mass.  Vols. ;  was  transferred, 
June  8,  1865,  to  56th  Infantry  ;  and  was  discharged,  June  12, 1865, 
at  the  close  of  war. 

William  H.  Edmands,  married ;  son  of  William  and  Margaret ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  14,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug.  14,  1862, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Taunton,  Mass.,  April  8, 
1837  ;  occupation,  blacksmith.  He  was  discharged  at  Portsmouth 
Grove,  R.  I.,  June  11,  1863,  by  reason  of  disability. 


RECORDS  OF  SOLDIERS.  29 1 

George  F.  Emery,  unmarried ;  son  of  George  B.  and  Abigail ; 
enlisted,  April  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Fairfield,  Me.,  Nov.  8, 
1842;  occupation,  carpenter.  He  was  promoted  corporal;  was 
detailed  in  Reg.  Q.  M.  Dept. ;  and  was  discharged  at  Boston, 
Aug.   I,   1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Edward  S.  Esty  (enlistment  accredited  to  Southborough),  mar- 
ried; enlisted,  Sept.  9,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Sept.  17, 
1861,  in  Co.  B,  ist  Mass.  Cavaky.  Born,  1822;  occupation, 
teamster.     He  deserted,  Jan.  8,  1862. 

Joseph  H.  Fairbanks,  married ;  son  of  Isaiah  and  Patty ;  en- 
listed, April  29,  1 86 1,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July  16,  1 861,  in 
13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Shrewsbury,  Mass.,  Feb. 
24,  1806;  occupation,  sleigh-maker.  He  was  discharged  at  Cat- 
lett's  Station,  Va.,  May  11,  1862,  by  reason  of  disability. 

John  W.  Fairbanks  (residence,  Roxbury),  unmarried ;  son  of 
Joseph  H.  and  Ann  E.  ;  enlisted,  April  17,  1861,  for  three  years  ; 
mustered,  May  24,  1861,  in  ist  Regt.,  Co.  D,  Mass.  Vols.  Born, 
Westborough,  Oct.  12,1 843  ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  wounded 
in  left  side  at  battle  of  Williamsburg,  Va.,  May  5,  1862  ;  and  was 
discharged  at  Fort  Wood,  N.  Y.  Harbor,  March  20,  1863,  by  rea- 
son of  disability  caused  by  wound.  He  afterwards  served  nine 
months  as  ist  lieutenant,  89th  U.  S.  Col.  Inf,  in  Louisiana,  and 
was  mustered  out  of  service  at  Port  Hudson,  La.,  Aug.  12,  1864, 
by  reason  of  discontinuance  of  the  regiment. 

Freeman  Fairbanks,  married  ;  son  of  Isaiah  and  Patty ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  5,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E, 
4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  Aug.  8,  1815  ;  occu- 
pation, carpenter.  He  was  promoted  sergeant,  Aug.  16,  1864,  and 
was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war.  He 
had  previously  served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

HoLLis  H.  Fairbanks,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Freeman  and  Me- 
linda ;  enlisted,  April  29,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July  16, 
186 1,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Shrewsbury,  April 
9,  1843  '>  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  killed  at  the  second 
battle  of  Bull  Run,  Aug.  30,  1862. 


292  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Henry  A.  Fairbanks,  unmarried ;  son  of  Freeman  and  Melinda ; 
enlisted,  April  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Shrewsbury,  April  9, 
1843  '}  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  wounded  at  the  battle  of 
Antietam,  Md.,  Sept.  17,  1862,  in  right  side  and  left  hand;  and 
was  discharged  at  Boston,  Mass.,  April  23,  1863,  by  reason  of  dis- 
ability caused  by  wounds.  He  afterward  served  ninety  days 
(May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  as  corporal  in  6th  Unattached  Company, 
Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

George  W.  Fairbanks  (enlistment  accredited  to  city  of  Wor- 
cester), unmarried;  son  of  Freeman  and  Mehnda ;  enhsted,  Sept.  18, 

1863,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Oct.  8,  1863,  i"  Co.  F,  2d  H.  A., 
Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  May  10,  1846 ;  occupation, 
farmer.    Discharged  Sept.  3,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

WiLLARD  W.  Fairbanks,  unmarried ;  son  of  Freeman  and  Me- 
linda; enlisted,  Aug.  8,   1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12, 

1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H,  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  Dec. 
8,  1846;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Almer  R.  Fairbanks  (enlistment  accredited  to  city  of  Worcester), 
unmarried  ;  son  of  Freeman  and  Melinda;  enlisted,  Feb.  15,  1865, 
for  one  year;  mustered,  Feb.  16,  1865,  in  6ist  Regt.,  Co.  I,  Mass. 
Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  March  3,  1841  ;  occupation,  farmer. 
He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  was  engaged  in  battle  of 
Petersburg,  Va.,  April  2,  1865  ;  and  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
July  16,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Charles  A.  Fairbanks,  married  ;  son  of  Corning  and  Harriet ; 
enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days  ;  mustered.  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Westborough,  July  28, 
1836 ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Benjamin  N.  Fairbanks,  unmarried ;  son  of  Corning  and  Har- 
riet; enlisted,  Feb.  24,  1862,  for  three  years ;  mustered,  Feb.  24, 
1862,  in  3 2d  Regt,,  Co.  F,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough, 
Oct.  20,  1843  j  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  wounded  in  right 
shoulder  at  Hatcher's  Run,  Va.,  Feb.  6,  1865  ;  and  was  discharged 
at  Boston,  March  13,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 


RECORDS   OF  SOLDIERS.  293 

James  Fanin  (secured  from  out  of  town  to  fill  quota),  is  said  to 
have  enlisted  for  one  year  in  ist  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.,  but  his  name 
does  not  appear  on  the  rolls. 

Bernard  Fannon,  married ;  son  of  Luke  and  Catherine ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  13,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  29,  1862,  in  50th 
Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born  in  Ireland,  Nov.  3, 
1832  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Wenham, 
Mass.,  Aug.  24, 1863,  at  expiration  of  service.  He  afterward  served 
ten  months,  as  corporal,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  M.  V.  M.,  and  was 
discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Charles  M.  Fay,  unmarried ;  son  of  Joel  W.  and  Lucy  D. ; 
enlisted,  April  16,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Montague,  Mass.,  April 
16,  1844.  He  was  taken  prisoner  at  Spottsylvania  Court  House, 
May  22,  1864 ;  was  wounded  three  times  ;  was  confined  six  months 
in  Libby  Prison,  Andersonville,  and  Millen's  Landing ;  and  was 
discharged,  Jan.  26,  1865.  He  re-enlisted,  March  22,  1865,  ^^ 
U.  S.  Veteran  Vols.,  and  was  discharged,  March  22,  1866. 

William  W.  Fay,  unmarried ;  son  of  Joel  W.  and  Lucy  D. ; 
enlisted,  April  16,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  sergeant.  Born,  Ber- 
nardston,  Mass.,  April  30,  1836 ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He 
was  wounded  in  right  arm  at  battle  of  Antietam,  Md.,  Sept.  17, 
1862  ;  was  taken  prisoner,  and  paroled  at  hospital  in  Chambers- 
burg,  Pa. ;  and  was  discharged  at  Boston,  Mass.,  Dec.  18,  1862, 
by  reason  of  disability  caused  by  wounds.  In  1864  he  served 
ninety  days  (May  4  to  August  2)  as  2d  lieutenant  in  6th  Unattached 
Company,  Mihtia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.  He  afterward 
served  ten  months  (Aug.  12,  1864,  to  June  17,  1865)  ^^  2d  lieu- 
tenant in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.,  and  was  discharged  in 
Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Waldo  L.  Fay  (enlistment  accredited  to  city  of  Worcester), 
unmarried  ;  son  of  Joel  W.  and  Lucy  D. ;  enlisted,  Sept.  i,  1864, 
for  one  year;  mustered  in  Co.  E,  2d  Mass.  Cavalry.  Bom,  West- 
borough,  Jan.  30,  1847  ;  occupation,  wheelwright.  He  served  in 
Army  of  the  Shenandoah  ;  was  wounded  in  wrist  in  a  fight  with 
guerillas;  and  was  discharged  at  Boston,  Mass.,  June  18,  1865,  at 


294  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

expiration  of  service.  He  had  previously  served  ninety  days  (May 
4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed 
at  Readville,  Mass. 

George  J.  Fayerweather,  unmarried  ;  son  of  John  and  Sarah ; 
enlisted,  Oct.  28,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Oct.  30,  1 861,  in 
25th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  Oct.  25, 1816  ; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  served  in  armies  of  North  Carolina  and 
the  Potomac ;  was  engaged  in  five  battles ;  was  wounded  in  right 
arm  in  front  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  May  9,  1864  ;  was  discharged,  Jan. 
18,  1864,  to  re-enlist;  and  was  finally  discharged  at  Greensboro', 
N.  C,  May  9,  1865,  by  reason  of  disability. 

George  T.  Fayerweather,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Thomas  H.  and 
E.  A. ;  enlisted,  Aug.  27,  1862,  for  nine  months  ;  mustered,  Sept.  25, 
1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  ;  rank,  4th  sergeant. 
Born,  Westborough,  Aug.  27,  1S40  ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was 
discharged  at  Worcester,  Mass.,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of 
service.  In  1864  he  served  ninety  days  (Mgiy  4  to  August  2)  as 
sergeant  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Read- 
ville, Mass.  He  afterward  served  ten  months  (Aug.  17,  1864,  to 
June  17,  1865)  as  captain,  Co.  F,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.,  stationed 
in  the  defences  of  Washington,  D.  C. ;  and  was  discharged  in 
Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war.  His  last  re-enlistment 
was  accredited  to  West  Boylston,  Mass. 

Henry  E.  Fayerweather,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Thomas  H.  and 
E.  A. ;  enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days ;  mustered.  May  4, 
1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Westborough, 
April  26,  1843  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  stationed  at 
Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration 
of  service. 

David  B.  Faulkner,  married  ;  son  of  Festus  and  Roxy  B. ;  en- 
listed, April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in 
6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia  ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  West 
Killingney,  Ct.,  June  23,  1828  ;  occupation,  carpenter.  He  was 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  18641 
at  expiration  of  service. 

Festus  Faulkner,  Jr.,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Festus  and  Roxy  B. ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  25,  1862,  for  nine   months;  mustered,   Sept.   25, 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  295 

1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V,  M. ;  musician.  Born,  Web- 
ster, Mass.,  May  3,  1842  ;  occupation,  carpenter.  He  was  dis- 
charged at  Worcester,  Mass.,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 
He  afterward  served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

George  A.  Ferguson,  unmarried ;  son  of  Samuel  B.  and  Eme- 
line;  enlisted,  July  14,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  31, 
1862,  in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Troy,  Me.,  Jan.  13, 
1844;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  engaged  in  twenty  battles; 
was  wounded  in  left  arm  at  Cedar  Creek,  Oct.  19,  1864;  was 
taken  prisoner  at  same  time,  and  carried  to  Richmond ;  was 
paroled,  Feb.  16,  1865;  and  was  discharged,  June  15,  1865,  at 
Annapolis,  Md.,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Henry  C.  Ferguson,  unmarried ;  son  of  Samuel  B.  and  Eme- 
line  ;  enlisted,  July  14,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  31, 
1 86 2,  in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols. ;  drummer.  Born,  Troy, 
Me.,  Jan.  19,  1847  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  at 
Richmond,  Va.,  June  16,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Charles  R  Fisher,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Nahum  J.  and  Lucy  P.  ; 
enlisted,  July  29,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  31,  1862, 
in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  April  6, 
1843;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  discharged,  Jan.  14,  1864,  to 
accept  promotion  to  ist  lieutenant,  25th  U.  S.  Colored  Troops; 
and  was  afterward  promoted  to  captain. 

William  Fisher,  unmarried ;  enlisted  for  three  years ;  mustered, 
Aug.  9,  1862,  in  25th  Regt.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1841  ;  occupa- 
tion, clerk.  After  his  enlistment  the  State  records  do  not  account 
for  him. 

Henry  C.  Flagg,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Elijah  and  Sarah  E. ;  en- 
listed, Nov.  30,  1863,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864,  ^^ 
5  7th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  sergeant.  Born,  Westborough, 
Jan.  25,  1842  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged,  June 
13,  1865,  by  reason  of  being  rendered  supernumerary  by  the  con- 
solidation of  the  57th  and  59th  Mass.  Vols. 

William  C.  Fletcher,  unmarried ;  son  of  Noah  and  Caroline 
E. ;  enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4, 
1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.     Born,  Grafton,  Sept. 


296  LATEiR   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

21,  1843;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

George  W.  Fletcher  (secured  from  out  of  town  to  fill  quota) ; 
enlisted  for  three  years.  It  is  not  known  what  organization  he 
joined. 

Patrick  Flinn;  enlisted  Aug.  10,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered, 
Aug.  12, 1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.     Bom  in  Ireland, 

1842  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June 
17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

John  Fly,  married;  enlisted,  April  19,  1861,  for  three  years; 
mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born, 
Me ;  occupation,  blacksmith.  He  was  wounded  in  hip  at  the 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  July  i,  1863.  After  lying  in  the  field 
three  days,  he  was  taken  to  the  hospital,  where  he  died,  July  26, 
1863. 

Willis  A.  Forbes,  unmarried ;  son  of  Ephraim  and  Harriet  C. ; 
enlisted,  Nov.  30,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864, 
in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  West- 
borough,  Jan.  25,  1846  ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  promoted  ser- 
geant, June  I,  1864  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Delaney  House,  D.  C, 
July  30,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Alonzo  G.  Forbush,  married;  enlisted,  Aug.  7,  1864,  for  one 
year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born,  Westborough  Dec.  28,  1832;  occupation,  mechanic.  He 
was  promoted  sergeant,  and  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17, 
1865,  at  the  close  of  war.  He  had  previously  served  ninety  days 
(May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864),  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia, 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

William  H.  Forbush,  unmarried ;  son  of  Orestes  and  Mary  W.  ; 
enlisted,  April  29,  i86t,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.     Born,  Westborough,  Jan.   16, 

1843  ;  occupation,  sleigh-maker.  He  was  wounded  in  left  hand  at 
second  battle  of  Bull  Run,  Aug.  30,  1862  ;  was  transferred  to  Co. 
C,  3d  U.  S.  Artillery,  Jan.  15,  1863,  and  was  discharged  in  Vir- 
ginia, July  II,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Henry  S.  Foster,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Sept.  6,  1862,  for  nine 
months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M. 


RECORDS   OF  SOLDIERS.  297 

Born,  1837;  occupation,  mechanic.     He  was  discharged  at  Wor- 
cester, Mass.,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  A.  Foster,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Sept.  13,  1862,  for  nine 
months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M. 
V.  M.  Born,  1844;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  discharged 
at  Worcester,  Mass.,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Henry  A.  Freeman,  enlisted  for  three  years;  mustered,  Feb. 
10,  1865,  in  Co.  C,  2d  Mass.  Cavalry.  Bom,  1843.  He  was  dis- 
charged, June  19,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  A.  Gilmore,  unmarried ;  son  of  John  F.  and  Mary  A. ; 
enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Westborough,  June  5, 
1838  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass., 
and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  Glidden,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Joseph  and  Rhoda  ;  enlisted, 
April  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Alton,  N.  H.,  Sept.  16,  1840; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  detailed  in  regimental  pioneer  corps 
in  1862  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Boston,  Mass.,  Aug.  i,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  service. 

John  H.  Goddard,  enlisted  for  ninety  days ;  mustered,  May  4, 
1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  1843.  He  was 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  service. 

Charles  A.  Goss,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Alfred  and  Rebecca  ;  en- 
listed Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co. 
E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  Boston,  June 
12,  1844;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war.  He  had  previously  served 
ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  as  private  in  6th  Unattached 
Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

Roland  Graham  (secured  from  out  of  town  to  fill  quota)  ;  en- 
listed for  three  years.  It  is  not  known  what  organization  he 
joined. 

Myron  D.  Green,  unmarried ;  son  of  Charles  P.  and  Hannah 
W. ;  enlisted,  Nov.  23,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  4, 


298  LATER  HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

1864,  in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom,  Westborough,  Aug. 
20,  1848;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  wounded  in  right  hand 
before  Petersburg,  Va.,  June  24,  1864;  and  was  discharged  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  May  11,  1865,  by  order  of  War  Department. 

Charles  Greenwood,  married ;  son  of  Joseph  and  Betsey ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  28,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug.  30,  1861, 
in  20th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Medfield,  Mass.,  July  i, 
18 15.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac;  was  taken  prisoner 
below  Petersburg,  Va.,  July  16,  1864;  was  paroled  Dec.  7,  1S64, 
and  was  discharged  at  Boston,  Mass.,  Jan.  26,  1865,  at  expiration 
of  service. 

Charles  O.  Greenwood,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Charles  and  Char- 
lotte B. ;  enlisted,  Aug.  5,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug. 
27,  1862,  in  36th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Douglas,  Mass., 
Nov.  16,  1838  ;  occupation,  seaman.  He  served  in  Army  of  the 
Potomac ;  was  engaged  in  battle  of  Antietam ;  was  transferred  to 
Co.  E,  2d  U.  S.  Flying  Artillery ;  afterward  served  in  Army  of  the 
Cumberland  ;  was  engaged  in  ten  battles  ;  was  wounded  in  left  leg 
at  battle  of  Cold  Harbor  ;  was  detailed  as  orderly  on  General  Fry's 
staff;  and  was  discharged  at  Readville,  Mass.,  June  8,  1865,  by 
order  of  War  Department. 

William  H.  H.  Greenwood,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Charles  and 
Charlotte  B.  ;  enlisted,  Nov.  20,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered, 
Dec.  5,  1863,  in  59th  Regt.,  Co.  A,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  West- 
borough,  March  II,  1840;  occupation,  bootmaker.  He  served 
in  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  was  instantly  killed,  shot  through 
the  chest,  at  the  battle  of  Wilderness,  Va.,  May  6,  1864. 

Abner  R.  Greenwood,  unmarried ;  son  of  Charles  and  Char- 
lotte B. ;  enlisted,  April  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July 
16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  ;  rank,  sergeant. 
Born,  Ashland,  Mass.,  Oct.  6,  1841  ;  occupation,  shoemaker. 
He  was  wounded  at  battle  of  Antietam,  Sept.  17,  1862,  in  right 
shoulder  and  knee  ;  was  taken  prisoner  at  Chambersburg,  Pa. , 
and  released  a  fortnight  after  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Germantown, 
Pa.,  Oct.  27,  1863,  by  reason  of  disability.  He  afterward  re-en- 
listed in  Veteran  Reserve  Corps  as  ist  sergeant  in  13th  Regt., 
Co.  K. 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  299 

George  F.  Hale,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Sumner ;  enlisted,  July  24, 
1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  31,  1862,  in  34th  Regt, 
Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Fitchburg,  May,  1845  ;  occupation, 
student.  He  was  discharged,  June  16,  1865,  at  expiration  of 
service. 

Francis  Hanley  (enlistment  accredited  to  Northborough),  mar- 
ried;  enlisted,  Jan.  27,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  27, 
1862,  in  15th  Regt.,  Co.  H,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1835  ;  occupa- 
tion, farmer.     He  died  of  wounds,  July  5,   1862. 

Michael  C.  Hannon,  unmarried  ;  enlisted,  Aug.  13,  1862,  for 
nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  30,  1862,  in  50th  Regt,  Co.  I, 
M.  V.  M.  Bom,  1840 ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  dis- 
charged at  Wenham,  Mass.,  Aug.  24,  1863,  at  expiration  of 
service. 

John  W.  Haraden,  unmarried ;  son  of  Thomas  and  Tem- 
perance;  enlisted,  Sept.  16,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered, 
Oct.  30,  1861,  in  25th  Regt.,  Co.  G,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Dor- 
chester, Dec,  28,  1808;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  dis- 
charged, Sept.  25,  1862,  by  reason  of  disability. 

George  C.  Haraden,  unmarried ;  son  of  John  W.  and  Eliza 
N. ;  enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16, 
1S61,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough, 
July  10,  1843  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  died  of  heart-disease 
at  Williamsport,  Md.,  Dec.  22,  1861. 

Charles  H.  Hardy,  unmarried ;  son  of  Charles  S.  and  Susan 
M. ;  enlisted,  July  14,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  31, 
1862,  in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough, 
March  19,  1844;  occupation,  blacksmith.  He  was  engaged  in 
sixteen  battles;  and  was  discharged  at  Richmond,  Va.,  June  16, 
1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Frederick  Harrenslayer  (secured  from  out  of  town  to  fill 
quota)  ;  enlisted  for  three  years.  It  is  not  known  what  organiza- 
tion he  joined. 

Charles  A.  Harrington,  married ;  son  of  Samuel  A.  and 
Catherine;  enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered. 
May  4,  1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.     Born,  West- 


300  LATER  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH, 

borough,  June  i6,  1831  ;  occupation,  mason.  He  was  stationed 
at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expira- 
tion of  service. 

Francis  Harrington,  married;  enlisted,  Aug.  26,  1862,  for 
nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E, 
M.  V.  M.  Born,  1820;  occupation,  carpenter.  He  was  de- 
tailed as  regimental  carpenter ;  and  was  discharged  at  Worcester, 
July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Fk^nk  a.  Harrington,  unmarried ;  son  of  Francis ;  enlisted, 
June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom,  South  Boston,  1843  ;  occupation, 
mechanic.  He  was  discharged  at  Boston,  July  20,  1864,  at  ex- 
piration of  service. 

Edwin  F.  Harrington,  unmarried;  enlisted,  April  28,  1864, 
for  ninety  days  ;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Com- 
pany, Militia.  Bom,  Boston,  Mass.,  1845  ;  occupation,  carpenter. 
He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2, 
1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Charles  L.  Harrington,  unmarried ;  son  of  Lawson  and 
Lovicy  W.  ;  enlisted,  Nov.  16,  1S61,  for  three  years;  mustered, 
Nov.  25,  1861,  in  32d  Regt.,  Co.  A,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom,  West- 
borough,  April  7,  1839  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  dis- 
charged at  Harrison's  Landing,  Va,,  July  29,  1S62,  by  reason  of 
disability. 

Henry  A.  Harris  (enlistment  accredited  to  Holliston),  un- 
married;  son  of  Rufus  and  Elvira  G. ;  enlisted,  May  20,  1861, 
for  three  years;  mustered,  July  2,  186 1,  in  i6th  Regt.,  Co.  B, 
Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  May  19,  1840 ;  occupation, 
clerk.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac  ;  was  wounded  in  left 
leg  at  battle  of  Gettysburg,  Pa. ;  was  promoted  Q.  M.  sergeant, 
April  4,  1862  ;  2d  lieutenant,  June  4,  1863,  to  date  Nov.  30, 
1862;  was  promoted  ist  lieutenant.  May  4,  1863;  and  resigned 
as  2d  lieutenant  at  Georgetown,  D.  C,  Dec.  19,  1S63,  by  reason 
of  disability  caused  by  wounds. 

John  K,  Harrison  (secured  from  out  of  to\vn  to  fill  quota),  en- 
listed for  three  years.     It  is  not  known  what  organization  he  joined. 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  301 

John  A.  Hart,  unmarried ;  enlisted,  Nov.  24,  1863,  for  three 
years;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864,  in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols. 
Occupation,  baker.  He  was  wounded  at  battle  of  Wilderness, 
Va.,  May  6,  1S64,  in  breast  and  both  arms,  in  consequence  of 
which  he  died  at  Heywood  Hospital,  Washington,  D.  C,  May 
26,   1864. 

George  E.  Hartwell,  married ;  son  of  Leonard  and  Abigail ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  14,  1862,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Aug.  14,  1862, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  West  Boylston,  Mass., 
March  24,  1824;  occupation,  carpenter.  He  was  wounded  at 
Antietam,  Sept.  17,  1862,  in  left  elbow;  was  taken  prisoner  at 
Chambersburg,  Pa.,  and  exchanged,  Dec.  8,  1862  ;  and  was  dis- 
charged at  Boston,  Jan.  9,  1863,  by  reason  of  disabihty  caused  by 
wounds. 

Lyman  Haskell,  unmarried ;  son  of  Asa  and  Achsa  C. ;  en- 
listed, June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  Nov.  7, 
1837;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  wounded  in  the  breast 
at  battle  of  Wilderness,  Va.,  May  5,  1864 ;  and  was  discharged  at 
Boston,  Mass.,  Aug.  i,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Charles  B.  Haskell,  unmarried ;  son  of  Asa  and  Achsa  C. ; 
enlisted,  April  30,  1864,  for  ninety  days  ;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Bom,  Westborough,  Oct. 
14,  1844;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  stationed  at  Read- 
ville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of 
service. 

Abner  W.  Haskell,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Asa  and  Achsa ;  en- 
listed, Dec.  I,  186 1,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Dec.  i,  1861,  in 
24th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  Oct.  29, 
1839  ;  occupation,  mason.  He  served  in  North  Carolina,  Florida, 
and  Virginia.  Died,  Aug.  29,  1864,  at  Beverly,  N.  J.,  from  the 
effect  of  a  wound  in  the  thigh  received  at  battle  of  Deep  Run,  Va., 
Aug.  16,  1864. 

Bowers  C.  Hathaway,  married  ;  son  of  Ennis  and  Clarissa  C. ; 
enhsted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days  ;  mustered.  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Freetown,  Mass., 
March  18,   1823  ;   occupation,  carpenter.     He  was   stationed  at 


302  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration 
of  service. 

James  Hayward,  enlisted  for  three  years ;  mustered,  Feb.  8, 
1865,  in  58th  Regt.,  Co.  H,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1846.  He  was 
discharged,  July  14,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Thomas  R.  Hazzard,  enlisted  for  nine  months  in  a  Maine 
regiment. 

Patrick  Heaphy,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Aug.  11,  1864,  for  one 
year  ;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. ; 
rank,  corporal.  Born  in  Ireland,  1844  ;  occupation,  mechanic. 
He  was  promoted  sergeant,  Feb.  24,  1865,  and  was  discharged  in 
Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  close  of  war. 

Carlos  T.  Heath,  enlisted,  Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mus- 
tered, Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born, 
1843  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged,  June  17,  1865,  at 
the  close  of  war. 

Charles  S.  Henry,  unmarried ;  son  of  Samuel  G.  and  Pennilia  ; 
enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Oakham,  Mass.,  July 
2,  1844 ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  M.  Hill,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Levi  and  Lucy  M. ;  enlisted, 
Feb.  17,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Feb.  17,  1862,  in  13th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  March  25,  1829; 
occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  transferred  to  39th  Regt.,  Mass. 
Vols.,  July  13,  1864,  and  was  discharged,  Feb.  17,  1865,  at  expira- 
tion of  service. 

Hiram  G.  Hodgkins,  unmarried  ;  enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for 
three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass. 
Vols.  Rank,  corporal.  Bom,  Waterville,  Vt.,  1837  ;  occupation, 
shoemaker.  He  gave  up  his  warrant  as  corporal  in  186 1  to  accept 
detail  in  Q.  M.  Dept. ;  and  was  discharged  at  Boston,  Aug.  i,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  service. 

James  H.  Holland,  unmarried ;  son  of  James  F.  and  Sarah  S.  ; 
enlisted,  Nov.  25,  1863,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864, 
in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.     Born,  Boston,  Sept.  10,  1847  ; 


RECORDS   OF  SOLDIERS.  303 

occupation,  clerk.  He  was  discharged  at  Boston,  Aug.  2,  1865, 
at  close  of  war. 

Charles  M.  Howe,  son  of  Silas  and  Persis ;  enlisted,  Aug.  9, 
1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H. 
A.,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  sergeant.  Bom,  Holden,  Mass.,  Jan.  27, 
184 1 ;  occupation,  watchman.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Charles  S.  Howe,  unmarried ;  son  of  Silas  and  Mary  E. ;  en- 
listed, April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days ;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in 
6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Westborough,  Aug.  26, 
1848  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  ]\Iass., 
and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  W.  Howe,  unmarried  ;  son  of  John  and  Mary  C. ;  enlisted, 
April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered.  May  4,  1864,  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Boylston,  Mass.,  July  8, 
1845  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass., 
and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1 864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Myron  J.  Horton,  enlisted,  Aug.  27,  1862,  for  nine  months; 
mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  Bom, 
184 1  ;  occupation,  salesman.  He  was  discharged  at  Newbern, 
N.  C,  Jan.  16,  1863,  by  reason  of  disability.  He  afterward  served 
ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th  Unattached  Company, 
Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

Edward  Hudson,  unmarried ;  son  of  Nathan  and  Orrilla ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  26,  1862,  for  nine  months  ;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862, 
in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Upton,  Mass.,  Sept.  18, 
1840;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Worcester, 
Mass.,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service.  In  1864  he  served 
ninety  days  (May  4  to  August  2)  as  private  in  6th  Unattached  Com- 
pany, Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.  He  afterward  ser\'ed 
ten  months  as  sergeant  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.,  and  was 
discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Elijah  C  Janes,  unmarried  ;  enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety 
days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company, 
Militia.  Bom,  Sturbridge,  Mass.,  1833  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He 
was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  service. 


304  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Antonio  Joan,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Nov.  24,  1863,  for  three 
years  ;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864,  in  5  7th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols. ; 
rank,  sergeant.  Born,  Sicily,  July  4,  1845  ;  occupation,  black- 
smith. He  was  wounded  in  right  hand  at  battle  of  Spottsylvania 
Court  House,  Va.,  May  18,  1864,  and  was  discharged  at  Delaney 
House,  D.  C,  July  30,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  W.  Johnson,  married  ;  son  of  John  and  Jemima  ;  enlisted, 
Sept.  25,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in 
5i9t  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Shrewsbury,  June  21,  1822  ; 
occupation,  farmer.     He   was  discharged  at  Worcester,  July  27, 

1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

William  H.  Johnson  (of  Northborough),  unmarried  ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  20,  1862,  for  nine  months  ;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st 
Regt.,  Co.  C,  M.  V.  M.  Bom,  1840;  occupation,  engineer. 
He  was  promoted  corporal,  Dec.  24,  1862;  and  was  discharged 
at  Worcester,  Mass.,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  Jones,  unmarried ;  son  of  Stephen  and  Mary ;  enlisted, 
April  16,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  Lebanon,  Me., 
June  II,  1837;  occupation,  carpenter.  He  was  discharged  at 
Alexandria,  Va.,  Jan.  9,  1863,  by  reason  of  disability.  In  1864  he 
served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  August  2)  as  ist  lieutenant  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.  He 
afterward  served  ten  months  as  ist  lieutenant  in  Co.  E.,  4th  H.  A., 
Mass.  Vols.,  and  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the 
close  of  war.  The  last  enlistment  was  accredited  to  Chicopee, 
Mass. 

Samuel  R.  Jones,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Stephen  and  Mary ;  en- 
listed, April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in 
6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Lebanon,  Me.,  Februarj', 
1840;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass., 
and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Edward  Keevan  (of  Worcester) ,  unmarried ;  son  of  John  and 
Nora:  enlisted,  Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12, 

1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  Novem- 
ber, 1842  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
June  17,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  305 

Thomas  Keevan,  married ;  son  of  John  and  Nora ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  13,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  30,  1862,  in 
50th  Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M.  Born  in  Ireland,  Aug.  22,  1828  ; 
occupation,  bootmaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Wenham,  Mass., 
Aug.  24,   1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  Kelly,  unmarried;  enhsted,  Aug.  12,  1864,  for  one 
year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols- 
Born  in  Ireland,  1844 ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged 
in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Francis  E.  Kemp,  unmarried ;  son  of  Asa  and  Mary  A. ;  enlisted, 
July  14,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  31,  1862,  in  34th 
Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Boston,  July  2,  1843  >  occupa- 
tion, mechanic.  He  was  wounded  in  left  thigh  and  taken  prisoner 
at  battle  of  Lynchburg,  Va.,  June  18,  1864,  and  was  carried  to 
Andersonville,  Ga.,  where  he  died,  Oct.  24,  1864,  of  chronic 
diarrhoea.  Adjutant-General's  report  says  that  he  died  at  Millen, 
Ga.,  Nov.  I,  1S64. 

Charles  W.  Kidder,  unmarried ;  enlisted,  Aug.  9, 1864,  for  one 
year;  mustered,  Aug.  13,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born,  Boston,  Mass.,  1845;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  discharged 
in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war.  He  had  previously 
served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th  Unattached 
Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville  Mass. 

Patrick  Kilkenny,  married  ;  son  of  Michael  and  Catherine  A. ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  7,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  March  16,  1832  ; 
occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17, 
1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

William  B.  Kimball,  married  ;  son  of  James  and  Emily ;  enlisted, 
June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  ist  sergeant.  Born,  Oakham, 
June  2,  1833  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  promoted  commissary 
sergeant,  March  i,  1862 ;  2d  lieutenant,  May  25,  1862  ;  ist 
lieutenant,  Feb.  27,  1863;  and  captain,  Oct.  4,  1863.  Dis- 
charged, Aug.  I,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Frederick  W.  Kimball,  married  ;  son  of  Noah  and  Martha  W. ; 
enlisted    for  three  years;  mustered,  Sept.    11,  1861,  in  band  of 


306  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

22d  Regt,,  Mass.  Vols. ;  musician.  Born,  Grafton,  Mass.,  Feb.  8, 
1833  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  was  discharged,  Aug.  11,  1862,  Jan.  24,  1865,  he  was  com- 
missioned 2d  heutenant,  5th  Mass.  Cavahy ;  was  promoted  to  ist 
lieutenant  and  asst.  com.  serg..  May  26, 1865  ;  and  was  discharged, 
Oct.  31,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Charles  A.  Kirkup,  unmarried ;  son  of  James  and  Elizabeth  j 
enlisted,  Nov.  30,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864, 
in  57th  Regt,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Newton,  Aug.  7,  1848; 
occupation,  bootmaker.  He  was  wounded  in  left  leg  and  taken 
prisoner  at  battle  of  Wilderness,  Va.,  May  6,  1864  ;  was  recaptured 
eight  days  after ;  and  was  discharged  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  July  30, 
1865,  by  reason  of  disability. 

Alvah  B.  Kitiredge,  unmarried ;  son  of  Charles  B.  and  Sarah 
B. ;  enlisted,  July  7,  1864,  for  one  hundred  days;  mustered,  July 
17,  1864,  in  Co.  B,  6th  Regt.,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Westborough, 
Feb.  3,  1845  ;  occupation,  student.  He  was  stationed  at  Arlington 
Heights  and  at  Fort  Delaware,  and  was  discharged,  Oct.  27,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  service. 

George  A.  Lackey  (enlistment  accredited  to  Easton,  Mass.), 
married;  son  of  Asa  and  Miranda  W. ;  enlisted,  Feb.  11,  1864,  for 
three  years  ;  mustered,  March  i,  1864,  in  58th  Regt.,  Co.  D,  Mass. 
Vols. ;  rank,  sergeant.  Born,  Hopkinton,  Mass.,  May  22,  1838 ; 
occupation,  machinist.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac  ;  lost 
left  leg  at  battle  of  Spottsylvania  Court  House,  Va.,  May  12,  1864, 
and  was  discharged,  March  11,  1865,  by  reason  of  disability.  He 
had  previously  served  nine  months  (Sept.  23,  1862,  to  June  26, 
1863)  in  3d  Regiment,  and  one  year  in  7th  Regiment. 

Robert  S.  Lackey,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Asa  and  Miranda  W. ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  26,  1862,  for  nine  months  ;  mustered,  Sept.  25, 1862, 
in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Westborough,  Sept.  17, 
1841  ;  occupation,  hostler.  He  was  discharged  at  Boston,  July  27, 
1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Charles  T.  Lackey,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Asa  and  Miranda  W.  ; 
enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days  ;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Westborough,  March 
30,    1845  ;   occupation,   mechanic.      He  was  stationed  at  Read- 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  307 

ville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1865,  at  expiration  of 
service. 

John  Lackey,  unmarried ;  son  of  Simeon  and  Harriet  M. ;  en- 
listed, April  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in 
13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Hopkinton,  Dec.  29,  1835  j 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  detailed  as  teamster,  and  was  dis- 
charged, Aug.  I,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

George  B.  Lakin  (of  Worcester),  unmarried ;  son  of  Ansel  and 
Susan  B. ;  enlisted,  Aug.  9,  1864, for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12, 
1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. ;  drummer.  Born,  Worces- 
ter, Oct.  2,  1847  ;  occupation,  student.  He  was  discharged,  June 
17,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Charles  H.  Lamson,  unmarried ;  son  of  William  P.  and  Eliza ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year  ;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  North  Brookfield,  Mass., 
April  2,  1843 ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  in  Vir- 
ginia, June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

John  Laflin,  married;  enlisted,  Nov.  23,  1863,  for  three  years  ; 
mustered,  Nov.  28, 1863,  in  Brigade  Band,  Corps  d'Afrique  ;  leader. 
Occupation,  click.  He  served  in  Louisiana,  and  was  discharged  at 
New  Orleans,  Aug.  12,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Joseph  Lebeau,  unmarried ;  son  of  Joseph  and  Christiana ;  en- 
listed, April  27,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in 
6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Montreal,  Canada,  Jan.  i, 
1842  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Edward  Lee,  unmarried;  enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three 
years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born  in  Ireland,  1831  ;  occupation,  tailor.  He  was  wounded  near 
Spottsylvania  Court  House,  Va.,  May  9,  1864,  and  was  discharged 
at  Boston,  Aug.  i,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Erastus  M.  Lincoln,  enlisted  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Feb. 
15,  1865,  in  32d  Regt.,  Co.  D,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1828.  He  was 
discharged,  June  29,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

John  Little,  unmarried ;  son  of  George  W.  and  Mary ;  enlisted, 
Dec.  10,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  11,  1864,  in  57th 


303  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Regt.,  Co.  H,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Haverhill,  Mass.,  Aug.  2,  1845  ; 
occupation,  painter.  He  was  discharged  at  Delaney  House,  D.  C, 
July  30,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

William  C.  Loker  (enlistment  accredited  to  Blackstone,  Mass.), 

unmarried;  son  of  William  and  ;   enHsted,  Aug.  22,   1864, 

for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  22,  1864,  in  Co.  F,  4th  H.  A., 
Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Natick,  1846;  occupation,  farmer.  He  died  at 
Falls  Church,  Va.,  Jan.  9,  1865,  of  typhoid  pneumonia.  He  had 
previously  served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

Charles  E.  Long,  unmarried  ;  son  of  William  R.  and  Mary  S. ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  25,  1862,  for  nine  months  ;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1S62, 
in  5  ist  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Northborough,  Oct.  2,  1840 ; 
occupation,  mechanic.     He  was  discharged  at  Worcester,  July  27, 

1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Joseph  G.  Longley,  unmarried ;  enlisted,  Aug.  20,  1862,  for 
nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  C, 
M.  V.  M. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  1823  ;  occupation,  teacher.  He 
was  discharged  at  Worcester,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of 
service. 

Charles  O.  Longley,  married ;  son  of  Jonas  and  Susan  ;  en- 
listed, April  30,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered.  May  4,  1864,  in 
6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Westborough,  July  20, 
1824;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

George  A.  Longley,  unmarried ;  son  of  James  A.  and  Harriet 
A. ;  enlisted,  April  28,   1864,  for  ninety  days ;  mustered,  May  4, 

1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Westborough, 
Dec.  31,  1847;  occupation,  painter.  He  was  stationed  at  Read- 
ville, Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of 
service. 

Richard  Loughlin,  unmarried  ;  son  of  John  and  Ellen ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E, 
4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  Dec.  8,  1841  ;  occupa- 
tion, farmer.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at 
the  close  of  war. 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  309 

Alden  Lovell,  married;  son  of  Moses  and  Sally;  enlisted, 
April  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Worcester,  Sept  i,  1831  ;  occu- 
pation, shoemaker.  He  was  wounded  in  right  arm  at  second  battle 
of  Bull  Run,  Aug.  30,  1862 ;  and  was  discharged  at  Alexandria, 
Va.,  Feb.  14,  1863,  by  reason  of  disability  caused  by  wound. 

Charles  Q.  Lowd,  unmarried ;  son  of  Leavitt  and  Betsey ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  26,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862, 
in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  He  was  discharged  at  Newbern, 
N.  C,  Jan.  16,  1863,  by  reason  of  disability.  March  23,  1864,  he 
enlisted  in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols. ;  was  detailed  as  clerk 
at  I  St  Division  headquarters ;  and  was  discharged  at  Delaney  House, 
D.  C,  July  30,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Edward  Lowell,  unmarried ;  son  of  Bonaparte  and  Lucretia ; 
enlisted,  Dec.  14,  1863,  for  three  years ;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864, 
in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Lanesborough,  Mass., 
Feb.  18,  1847  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  promoted  corporal. 
May  7,  1864;  ^J^d  was  discharged  at  Delaney  House,  D.  C,  July 
30,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Robert  H.  Lowheed  (secured  from  out  of  town  to  fill  quota) 
is  said  to  have  enhsted  for  three  years  in  ist  Mass.  Battery,  but 
his  name  does  not  appear  upon  the  rolls. 

Elisha  S.  Lucas,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Sept.  22,  1862,  for  nine 
months;  mustered,  Sept.  23,  1862,  in  4th  Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M. 
Born,  1839  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  at  Lakeville, 
Mass.,  Aug.  28,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Michael  Lynch,  unmarried;  enlisted,  June  29,  186 1,  for  three 
years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born  in  Ireland,  1841  ;  occupation,  boot-fitter.  He  was  dis- 
charged at  Boston,  Aug.   i,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

William  Magner,  unmarried ;  son  of  James  and  Ann  ;  enlisted, 
Dec.  4,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864,  in  57th 
Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Boston,  Sept.  22,  1845  ;  occu- 
pation, farmer.  He  was  wounded  at  battle  of  Spottsylvania  Court 
House,  May  12,  1864;  was  promoted  ist  sergeant,  Jan.  i,  1865  ; 
and  was  discharged  at  Delaney  House,  D.  C,  July  30,  1865,  at 
expiration  of  service. 


310  LATER  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

James  Mahoney,  unmarried ;  son  of  Michael  and  Ann  ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  4,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug.  7,  1861,  in  15th 
Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Fall  River,  Dec.  25,  1842  ;  occu- 
pation, fireman.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac  ;  was  engaged 
in  twelve  battles ;  was  wounded  in  head,  face,  and  legs  at  Get- 
tysburg, July  2,  1863 ;  was  promoted  ist  sergeant,  Nov.  30, 
1862  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  Sept.  26,  1864,  by 
reason  of  disability. 

Samuel  W.  Mann,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Ichabod  and  Sarah ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co. 
E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Landgrove,  N.  H.,  Oct.  30, 
1839  ;  occupation,  currier.  He  was  promoted  ist  lieutenant,  Co.  F, 
Aug.  17,  1864;  resigned  at  Fort  Ward,  Va.,  March  28,  1865,  by 
reason  of  disability  caused  by  old  wounds.  He  had  previously 
served  as  private,  sergeant,  and  2d  lieutenant  in  20th  Regt.,  Mass. 
Vols.,  and  as  captain  in  54th  Regt.,  Mass.  Vols.  While  in  the  latter 
regiment  he  was  wounded  at  Fort  Wagner,  S.  C.  His  enlistments 
in  20th  and  54th  Regiments  are  accredited  to  Boston. 

Jeremiah  W.  Marsh,  married ;  son  of  Jeremiah  and  Nancy ; 
enlisted,  March  31,  1864,  for  three  years;  mustered,  April  6,  1864, 
in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Exeter,  Me.,  Oct.  18, 
183 1 ;  occupation,  carpenter.     He  died  of  wounds,  May  6,  1864. 

Thomas  Martin,  married;  enlisted,  Aug.  13,  1862,  for  nine 
months;  mustered,  Sept.  30,  1862,  in  50th  Regt,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M. 
Born,  1822  ;  occupation,  laborer.  He  was  discharged  at  Wenham, 
Mass.,  Aug.  24,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Patrick  McCarthy,  unmarried ;  son  of  Jeremiah  and  Mary ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  13,  1862,  for  nine  months  ;  mustered,  Sept.  29,  1862, 
in  50th  Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M.  Bom,  Boston,  Sept.  22,  1844; 
occupation,  bootmaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Wenham,  Mass., 
Aug.  24,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Daniel  McCarthy,  unmarried ;  son  of  Jeremiah  and  Mary ; 
enlisted,  March  16,  1864,  for  three  years;  mustered,  April  6,  1864, 
in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Boston,  May  19,  1840; 
occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  wounded  in  right  hand  at  battle 
of  Spottsylvania,  Va.,  May  12,    1864;    was   promoted   corporal, 


RECORDS   OF  SOLDIERS.  311 

Jan.  I,  1865  ;  and  sergeant,  May  i,  1865  ;  and  was  discharged  at 
Delaney  House,  D.  C,  July  30,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  McCarthy  (secured  from  out  of  town  to  fill  quota) ,  en- 
listed for  three  years.     It  is  not  known  what  organization  he  joined, 

Michael  McCoy,  married;  enlisted,  Aug.  13,  1862,  for  nine 
months;  mustered,  Sept.  30,  1862,  in  50th  Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M. 
Born,  1840;  occupation,  bootmaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Wen- 
ham,  Mass.,  Aug.  24,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

William  McCoy,  unmarried ;  son  of  John  and  Mary ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year ;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th 
H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  March  12,  1846;  occupa- 
tion, shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  1 7,  1865, 
at  close  of  war. 

Timothy  McCue,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one 
year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born  in  Ireland,  1845  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  in 
Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Thomas  McHough,  enlisted,  Aug.  12,  1864,  for  one  year;  mus- 
tered, Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H,  A.,  Mass,  Vols,  Bom  in 
Ireland,  1841  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  in  Vir- 
ginia, June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

George  A.  McKendry,  married ;  son  of  Albert  G.  and  L.  V. ; 
enlisted,  Aug,  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  Dorchester, 
Mass.,  Oct.  I,  1837  ;  occupation,  carpenter.  He  was  discharged 
in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Richard  McNulty  (secured  from  out  of  town  to  fill  quota), 
enlisted  for  three  years.  It  is  not  known  what  organization  he 
joined. 

Daniel  B.  Miller  (of  Boston),  unmarried ;  enlisted,  May  24, 
1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  May  24,  1861,  in  ist  Regt., 
Co.  D,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  1834  ;  occupation,  driver. 
He  was  appointed  regimental  wagon-master;  and  was  killed  at 
Groton,  Conn.,  June  15,  1861,  by  being  thrown  under  the  cars 
while  the  regiment  was  on  its  way  to  Washington,  D.  C. 


312  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

JosiAH  W.  Miller,  married ;  son  of  Joel  and  Mary ;  enlisted, 
April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Cambridgeport,  July  29, 
1823;  occupation,  click.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass., 
and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

William  A.  Miller,  unmarried ;  son  of  Asa  R.  and  Hannah  T. ; 
enlisted  April  28,  1864,  for  three  months;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Westborough,  Feb. 
2,  1846;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Lowell  P.  Mitchell,  unmarried ;  son  of  William  W.  and 

;  enlisted  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E, 


4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.     He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  1 7, 
1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

John  Mockley,  unmarried ;  son  of  John  and  Catherine  V. ; 
enlisted,  July  24,  1862,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July  25,  1862,  in 
34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Albany,  N.  Y.,  July  5, 
1845  ;  occupation,  student.  He  was  wounded  in  the  leg  at  battle 
of  Charlestown,  Va.,  Oct.  20,  1863  ;  was  taken  prisoner  at  batde  of 
Newmarket,  Va.,  May  15,  1864;  was  carried  to  Andersonville, 
Ga.,  thence  to  Florence,  S.  C. ;  and  was  discharged  at  Richmond, 
Va.,  June  15,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  W.  Moody,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Israel  and  Rachel ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th 
H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  South  Boston,  May  19,  1845  ;  occu- 
pation, farmer.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865, 
at  the  close  of  war.  He  had  previously  served  ninety  days  (May  4 
to  Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at 
Readville,  Mass. 

John  Morin  (of  Worcester),  married ;  enlisted  for  three  years ; 
mustered,  July  23,  1862,  in  ist  Regt.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1836; 
occupation,  shoemaker.  There  is  no  account  of  him  on  the  rolls 
after  his  enlistment. 

Andrew  Morrissey,  enlisted,  Aug.  12,  1864,  for  one  year;  mus- 
tered, Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in 
Ireland,  1837;  occupation,  currier.  He  was  discharged  in  Vir- 
ginia, June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 


RECORDS   OF  SOLDIERS.  313 

George  B.  Morse,  married ;  son  of  Berriah  and  Betsey  j  en- 
listed, July  19,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug.  10,  1862,  in 
9th  Light  Battery,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Wilmot,  N.  H.,  March  5, 
1831 ;  occupation,  blacksmith.  He  served  in  Army  of  Potomac  ; 
was  engaged  in  thirteen  battles ;  and  was  discharged  at  Boston, 
June  6,   1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

William  Mortimer  (secured  from  out  of  town  to  fill  quota) ; 
enlisted  for  three  years.  It  is  not  known  what  organization  he 
joined. 

John  Murphy  (of  Boston)  is  said  to  have  enlisted  for  three 
years  in  ist  Mass.  Battery,  but  his  name  does  not  appear  on  the 
rolls. 

Thomas  Murphy,  married ;  son  of  Timothy  and  Margaret ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  13,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  30,  1862, 
in  50th  Regt.,  Co.  I,  M.  V.  M.  Born  in  Ireland,  May  26,  1836  ; 
occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Wenham,  Mass., 
Aug.  24,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service.  In  1864  he  served  ninety 
days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2),  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia, 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.  He  was  mustered,  Sept.  3,  1864,  in 
4th  Mass.  Cavalry ;  was  wounded  in  thigh  at  High  Bridge,  Va.,  and 
was  discharged  at  Richmond,  Va.,  May  22,  1865,  at  expiration  of 
service.  His  last  enlistment  was  accredited  to  town  of  Oxford, 
Mass. 

Frank  A.  Newton,  unmarried ;  son  of  Daniel  F.  and  Amy  A. ; 
enlisted,  April  30,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered.  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Roxbury,  Mass.,  Nov. 
19,  1845;  occupation,  student.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1 864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Augustus  F.  Nichols,  unmarried ;  son  of  Fortunatus  and  Irene  ; 
enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Westborough,  July 
24,  1847  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Charles  C.  Nichols,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Fortunatus  and  Irene  ; 
enlisted  for  three  years ;  mustered,  Sept.  11,  1861,  in  band  of  22d 
Regt.,  Mass.  Vols.     Born,  Westborough,  Dec.  8,  1840 ;  occupa- 


314  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

tion,  farmer.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  and  was  dis- 
charged by  Act  of  Congress,  Aug.  ii,  1862. 

S.  WnrrNEY  Nourse,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Rufus  and  Ellen  B. ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Southborough,  Dec.  10, 
1848 ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June 
17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Michael  O'Dea,  enlisted,  Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mus- 
tered, Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born 
in  Ireland,  1843 ;  occupation,  currier.  He  was  discharged  in 
Virginia,  June  17,   1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Charles  O.  Parker,  unmarried ;  son  of  George  W.  and  Euse- 
bia;  enlisted,  Aug.  22,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept. 
25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Westborough, 
Aug.  6,  1841 ;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  discharged  at  Worcester, 
July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service.  In  1864  he  served  ninety 
days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2),  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia, 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

Charles  H.  Pierce,  married  ;  son  of  John  H.  and  Eliza;  en- 
listed, April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days ;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in 
6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  West- 
borough,  Aug.  I,  1832 ;  occupation,  civil  engineer.  He  was 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  service. 

Marshall  S.  Pike,  unmarried ;  enlisted  for  three  years ;  mus- 
tered, Sept.  II,  1 86 1,  in  band  of  2 2d  Regt,  Mass.  Vols.  Born, 
1818  ;  occupation,  musician.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac, 
and  was  discharged,  Dec.  25,  1862. 

Michael  Powers,  unmarried ;  son  of  Richard  and ;  en- 
listed, July  25,  1862,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Aug.  15,  1862,  in 
34th  Regt.,  Co,  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  June  27,  1843  > 
occupation,  student.  He  was  taken  prisoner  at  Newmarket,  Va., 
May  15,  1864  ;  was  carried  to  Andersonville,  Ga.,  and  was  paroled 
after  six  months.  He  was  discharged  at  Richmond,  Va.,  June  16, 
1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Edmund  H.  Priest,  married ;  son  of  Abel  and  Eunice  M. ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,   1864,  in 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  315 

Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  April  23, 
182 1  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Martin  Quinn,  unmarried  ;  son  of  John  and  Bridget ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E, 
4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  1844;  occupation, 
bootmaker.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1S65,  at 
the  close  of  war. 

Amos  Rice,  married ;  son  of  Josiah  and  Charlotte  B. ;  enlisted, 
July  14,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  31,  1862,  in  34th 
Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Framingham,  April  6,  1819; 
occupation,  bootmaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Richmond,  Va., 
June   16,   1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Charles  A.  Rice  (of  Boston),  unmarried ;  son  of  Charles  P.  and 
Jane  N. ;  enlisted,  Aug.  28,  1S62,  for  nine  months ;  mustered, 
Oct.  II,  1862,  in  43d  Regt.,  Co.  A,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  West- 
borough,  April  26,  1840;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  stationed 
in  North  Carolina ;  was  engaged  in  three  battles ;  was  promoted 
corporal,  Aug.  28,  1862  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Readville,  Mass., 
July  30,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Henry  G.  Rice,  unmarried  ;  enlisted  for  three  years ;  mustered, 
Nov.  7,  1861,  in  30th  Regt.,  Co.  D,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1834; 
occupation,  bootmaker.  He  was  discharged,  Dec.  8,  1862,  by 
reason  of  disability. 

John  Rice,  married,  son  of  John  and  Mary ;  mustered  Aug.  18, 

1862,  in  36th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.     Born  in  Ireland  ;  occu- 
pation, laborer.     He  was  transferred  to  Invalid  Corps,  Aug.   18, 

1863,  and  was  discharged,  June  12,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Henry  V.  Richards,  enlisted,  Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year ;  mus- 
tered, Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born, 
Hopkinton,  1841 ;  occupation,  hatter.  He  was  discharged  in  Vir- 
ginia, June  17,  1865,  ^^  ths  c'ose  of  war. 

Arthur  W.  Robbins  (enlistment  accredited  to  Northborough), 
unmarried;  son  of  Chandler  and  Frances;  enlisted,  Aug.  25,  1864, 
for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  25,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A., 
Mass.  Vols.     Born,  Westborough,  Dec.  23,  1848;  occupation,  mar- 


3l6  LATER  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

ble-worker.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the 
dose  of  war.  He  had  previously  served  ninety  days  (May  4  to 
Aug.  2,  1864)  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  MiHtia,  stationed  at 
Readville,  Mass. 

Chandler  Robbins,  married ;  son  of  Chandler  and  Eleanor ; 
enlisted,  April  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Plymouth,  Feb.  11,1819; 
occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  detailed  as  hospital  steward  ;  was 
taken  prisoner  at  Fitzhugh  Hospital,  opposite  Fredericksburg,  Va., 
June  15,  1863,  and  escaped,  June  30,  1863.  He  was  discharged 
at  Boston,  Aug.   i,   1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Edward  Roberts,  unmarried;  enlisted,  Sept.  22,  1861,  for 
three  years;  mustered,  Oct.  7,  1861,  in  25th  Regt.,  Co.  E,  Mass. 
Vols.  Born,  1839  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged, 
Jan.  2,  1864,  to  re-enlist;  re-enlisted,  Jan.  3,  1864,  and  was  dis- 
charged, July  13,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

John  Roberts  (secured  from  out  of  town  to  fill  quota)  is  said 
to  have  enlisted  in  the  54th  Regiment,  but  his  name  does  not 
appear  on  the  rolls. 

James  F.  Robinson,  unmarried ;  son  of  James  and  Lydia ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  25,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862, 
in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Brookline,  Sept.  8,  1838; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  discharged  at  Worcester,  July  27, 
1863,  at  expiration  of  service.  In  1864  he  served  ninety  days 
(May  4  to  Aug.  2)  as  corporal  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia, 
stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

John  T.  Robinson,  unmarried ;  son  of  James  and  Lydia ;  en- 
listed, April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in 
6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Brookline,  Aug.  17, 
1845  )  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass., 
and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

William  E.  Rogers,  enlisted  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Feb.  7, 
1865,  in  25th  Regt.,  Co  C,  Mass.  Vols,  Born,  1837.  He  was 
discharged,  July  13,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Harvey  C.  Ross,  married  ;  son  of  Elijah  and  Clarissa  ;  enlisted, 
April  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th 


RECORDS  OF  SOLDIERS.  317 

Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Walpole,  N.  H.,  Nov.  22,  1835  ; 
occupation,  bootmaker.  He  was  wounded  in  side  and  arm  at 
battle  of  Gettysburg,  July  i,  1863;  was  taken  prisoner  and  re- 
leased on  third  day ;  was  again  a  prisoner  four  days  at  battle  of 
Wilderness,  Va.  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Portsmouth  Grove,  R.  I., 
July  16,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Thomas  Russell,  enlisted,  Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered, 
Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co,  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland, 
1844;  occupation,  currier.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June 
17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Alfred  L.  Sanborn,  married ;  son  of  Greenleaf  C.  and  Eleanor 
J.;  enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16, 
1861,  in  r3th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.;  rank,  corporal.  Born, 
Boston,  July  28,  1835  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  taken  pris- 
oner at  Gettysburg,  July  i,  1863,  and  paroled,  July  4,  1863;  was 
promoted  sergeant;  and  was  discharged  at  Boston,  Aug.  i,  1864, 
at  expiration  of  service. 

John  W.  Sanderson,  unmarried ;  son  of  John  and  Eliza ;  en- 
listed, April  19,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  17,  1861,  in 
13th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Feb.  22, 
1832  ;  occupation,  wire-worker.  He  was  promoted  first  lieutenant, 
Oct.  16,  1861  ;  resigned,  July  19,  1862,  by  reason  of  disability. 
He  afterwards  served  eleven  months  as  first  lieutenant  in  51st 
Regt.,  Co.  A,  M.  V,  M.  He  then  served  one  year  as  captain 
in  57th  Regt.,  Mass.  Vols.;  was  wounded  in  left  leg  at  Spottsyl- 
vania  Court  House,  Va.,  May  12,  1864;  and  was  discharged  at 
Washington,  D.  C,  Nov.  16,  1864,  by  reason  of  disability  caused 
by  wound. 

Francis  H.  Santjra,  married ;  son  of  Francis  H.  and  Mary  J. 
E. ;  enlisted,  Nov.  23,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Nov.  28, 
1863,  in  Brigade  Band,  Corps  d'Afrique.  Born,  Boston,  March  17, 
1844  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  served  in  Louisiana,  and  was 
discharged  at  New  Orleans,  Aug.  12,  1865,  at  close  of  war. 

John  W.  Sanger  (of  Hopkinton),  married ;  enlisted  for  three 
years;  mustered,  Feb.  24,  1862,  in  ist  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born,  1834;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged,  Feb. 
27,  1865. 


3l8  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

John  G.  Sargent,  enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days; 
mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia. 
Born,  Aroostook  County,  Me.,  1843  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He 
was  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2, 
1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

George  B.  Searles  (enlistment  accredited  to  Boston),  unmar- 
ried ;  son  of  Curtis  and  Abigail ;  enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three 
years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born,  West  Newton,  Jan.  9,  1839;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was 
discharged  at  Portsmouth  Grove,  R.  I.,  March  27,  1S63,  by  reason 
of  disability.  In  1864  he  served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2) 
as  sergeant  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at 
Readville,  Mass. 

George  W.  Searles,  unmarried ;  son  of  Andrew  and  Elizabeth  ; 
enlisted,  April  29,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Palmer,  Mass.,  Dec. 
4,  1845  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Foster  Shambeau,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Jake  and  Mary;  enlisted, 
April  30,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered,  May  4,  1864,  in  6th 
Unattached  Company,  Militia.  Born,  Montreal,  Canada,  April  3, 
1844;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  stationed  at  Readville, 
Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Patrick  J.  Sheehan,  unmarried  ;  son  of  John  and  Mary ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  6,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  Ireland,  Sept.  12,  1842  ; 
occupation,  tailor.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865, 
at  the  close  of  war. 

Prescott  Sibley,  married ;  son  of  James  and  Cleora ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E, 
4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  Westborough, 
June  13,  1832  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  discharged  in 
Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

William  H.  Sibley,  married ;  son  of  Silas  and  Lorinda ;  enlisted, 
April  29,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th 
Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.    Born,  Westborough,  April  2,  1821  ;  oc- 


RECORDS   OF  SOLDIERS.  3 19 

cupation,  wheelwright.  He  was  wounded  in  left  knee  at  battle 
of  Antietam,  Sept.  17,  1862  ;  was  taken  prisoner  and  paroled  at 
Chambersburg,  Pa.,  Oct.  10,  1862  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Boston, 
Aug.  I,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

James  Slattery,  unmarried;  enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three 
years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols. 
Bom  in  Ireland,  1841  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  dis- 
charged at  Boston,  Aug.   i,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Thomas  Slattery,  enlisted,  Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mus- 
tered, Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born 
in  Ireland,  1822;  occupation,  laborer.  He  was  discharged  in 
Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Herbert  O.  Smith,  unmarried ;  son  of  Timothy  A.  and  Corelia 
M. ;  enlisted,  March  31,  1864,  for  three  years;  mustered,  April  6, 
1864,  in  57th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Gloucester,  Mass. ; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  wounded  in  the  face  at  battle  of 
Wilderness,  Va.,  May  6,  1864 ;  was  taken  prisoner  at  North  Anna, 
May  24,  1864 ;  and  died  in  prison  at  Andersonville,  Ga.,  Aug.  28, 

1864,  of  chronic  diarrhoea. 

Silas  P.  Squier,  married  ;  son  of  Solomon  and  Lovica ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E, 
4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Canada,  May  23,  1828;  occupa- 
tion, carpenter.  He  was  discharged  at  Worcester,  May  25,  1865, 
at  expiration  of  service. 

Jeremiah  Staples,  married ;  son  of  Nathaniel  and  Abigail ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Temple,  Me.,  Sept.  i,  1821 ; 
occupation,  farmer.      He  was   discharged  in  Virginia,  June   17, 

1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Samuel  O.  Staples,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Samuel  B.  and  Lucerne  ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  25,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25, 
1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  Born,  Temple,  Me.,  April 
6,  1843  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  discharged  at  Worces- 
ter, July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  service. 

William  H.  Stevens,  non-resident  of  the  town,  secured  by  the 
selectmen  to  fill  quota;  enlisted  for  three  years.  It  is  not  known 
what  organization  he  joined. 


320  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Edgar  V.  Stone,  unmarried ;  son  of  Liberty  and  Mary ;  en- 
listed, March  16,  1865,  for  one  year;  mustered,  March  16,  1865, 
in  6ist  Regt.,  Co.  G,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Upton,  Aug.  21,  1850; 
occupation,  mechanic.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
was  discharged  at  Baltimore,  Md.,  June  9,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Frank  A.  Stone  (residence,  Toulon,  111.),  unmarried;  son  of 
Jonas  and  Achsah ;  enlisted,  Aug.  12,  1862,  for  three  years;  mus- 
tered, Sept.  20,  1862,  in  1 1 2th  Regt.,  Co.  F,  Illinois  Infantry. 
Born,  Westborough,  March  i,  1844;  occupation,  butcher.  He 
served  in  Army  of  the  Ohio ;  was  engaged  in  twenty-five  battles ; 
and  was  discharged  at  Chicago,  111.,  July  6,  1865,  at  close  of  war. 
Accredited  to  town  of  Toulon,  111. 

Frank  L.  Stone,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Jonathan  and  Hannah ; 
enlisted,  June  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  July  14, 
1835  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  promoted  corporal ;  and 
was  discharged  at  Alexandria,  Va.,  Sept.  5,  1862,  by  reason  of  dis- 
ability. He  was  commissioned  second  lieutenant  in  35th  U.  S. 
Colored  Troops  in  May,  1863  ;  was  promoted  first  lieutenant  and 
quartermaster  in  39th  U.  S.  Colored  Troops  in  Oct.,  1863  ;  and 
was  discharged  in  Sept.,   1865. 

Frank  S.  Stone,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Elisha  J.  and  Elizabeth  A. ; 
enlisted,  Feb.  8,  1865,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Feb.  8,  1865,  in 
6ist  Regt.,  Co.  I,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Hopkinton,  April  7,  1848  ; 
occupation,  shoemaker.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac; 
and  was  discharged  June  20,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war.  He  had 
previously  served  one  hundred  days  (Aug.  16  to- Nov.  26,  1S64)  in 
23d  Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

George  H.  Stone  (residence,  Toulon,  111.),  unmarried ;  son  of 
Jonas  and  Achsah;  enlisted,  for  three  years;  mustered  in  19th 
Regt.,  Co.  B,  Illinois  Infantry.  Born,  Westborough,  Oct.  4,  1840 ; 
occupation,  butcher.  He  ser\^ed  in  Army  of  the  Cumberland  ; 
was  discharged  at  Chicago,  111.,  June,  1864,  at  expiration  of  ser- 
vice.    Accredited  to  town  of  Toulon,  111. 

J.  Henry  Stone,  married ;  enlisted  for  three  years ;  mustered, 
Feb.  25,  1862,  in  Co.  A,  ist  Battery  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born, 
1829;  occupation,  farmer.     He  was  discharged,  Feb.  27,  1865. 


RECORDS   OF   SOLDIERS.  32 1 

James  H.  Sullivan,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Michael  and  Ellen ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  12,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1861,  in 
2 1  St  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  March  10, 
1845;  occupation,  farmer.  He  served  in  North  Carolina,  and 
was  killed  at  battle  of  Newbern,  N.  C,  March  14,  1862,  by  a  bullet 
through  the  neck. 

Timothy  G.  Sullivan,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Michael  and  Ellen  ; 
enlisted,  Dec.  i,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864,  in 
57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Vv^estborough,  June  8,  1846  ; 
occupation,  miller.  He  was  wounded  in  left  foot  at  battle  of  Wil- 
derness, Va.,  and  was  discharged  at  Washington,  D.  C.,  May  11, 
1865,  by  reason  of  disability. 

Andrew  Sullivan  (accredited  to  city  of  Worcester)  ;  unmar- 
ried; son  of  Michael  and  Ellen;  enlisted,  Aug.  13,  1864,  for  one 
year;  mustered,  Aug.  15,  1864,  in  Co.  F,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. 
Born,  Westborough,  March  7,  1848;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was 
discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

J.  Frank  Sweeney,  married;  enlisted,  July  24,  1862,  for  three 
years  ;  mustered,  July  31,  1862,  in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols. ; 
bugler.  Born,  1838.  He  was  discharged  at  Frederick,  Md.,  July 
17,  1864,  by  reason  of  disability. 

Solomon  J.  Taft,  married ;  son  of  John  W.  and  Sabrina ;  enlisted, 
Sept.  II,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Sept.  23,  i86i,  in  band 
of  22d  Regt.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Williston,  Vt.,  Aug.  ig,  1828; 
occupation,  mechanic.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac ;  was 
discharged  at  Harrison's  Landing,  Va.,  by  Act  of  Congress,  Aug. 
II,  1862.  He  afterwards  served  twenty  months  in  brigade  band, 
Corps  d'Afrique,  stationed  in  Louisiana,  and  was  discharged  at 
New  Orleans,  July  20,   1S65,  by  reason  of  disability. 

Squire  S.  Tidd,  unmarried  ;  son  of  William  and  Luthera  ; 
enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days;  mustered.  May  4,  1864, 
in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia  ;  rank,  third  sergeant.  Born, 
Woburn,  Feb.  17,  1822  ;  occupation,  currier.  He  was  stationed  at 
Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expiration 
of  service. 

,    Alfred  L.  Trowbridge,  unmarried ;  son  of  William  and  Ange 
line;  enlisted,  March  21,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  March 


322  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

21,  1862,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough, 
1844;  occupation,  wheelwright.  He  was  discharged  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  May  24,  1862,  by  reason  of  disabihty.  In  1864  he 
served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2)  in  6th  Unattached  Company, 
Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

Melzar  G.  Turner,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Sidney  S.  and  Mary  I,.; 
enlisted,  April  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  New  Portland,  Me., 
June  29,  1842  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  promoted  cor- 
poral;  and  was  discharged  at  Washington,  D.  C,  Sept.  4,  1862, 
by  order  of  President  Lincoln. 

Cephas  N.  Walker,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Nathan  S.  and  Mary  A.; 
enlisted,  July  15,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  31,  1862, 
in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  Barre, 
June  3,  1843  ;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  wounded  in  right  foot 
at  Winchester,  Va.,  Sept.  19,  1864  ;  was  promoted  sergeant,  Jan.  i, 
1863;  and  was  discharged,  July  6,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

George  A.  Walker,  enlisted,  Aug.  9,  1864,  for  one  year;  mus- 
tered, Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born, 
Claremont,  N.  H.,  1834;  occupation,  mason.  He  was  discharged 
in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

Irving  E.  Walker  (accredited  to  city  of  Boston),  unmarried; 
son  of  Silas,  Jr.,  and  Louisa  A.;  enlisted,  March  28,  1864,  for 
three  years;  mustered,  March  28,  1864,  in  19th  Regt.,  Co.  A, 
Mass.  Vols.  Born,  West  Boylston,  Aug.  2,  1839;  occupation, 
farmer.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac;  was  engaged  in 
seven  batdes  ;  was  taken  prisoner  at  Petersburg,  Va.,  June  22,  1864, 
and  carried  to  Andersonville,  Ga. ;  thence  to  Florence,  S.  C,  where 
he  died,  Nov.  1,  1864,  of  starvation  and  exposure. 

Lyman  S.  Walker,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Nathan  S.  and  Lydia  C. ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  4,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug.  15,  1862, 
in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Barre,  May  9,  1840; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  promoted  corporal,  Jan.  12,  1865  ; 
and  was  discharged  at  Richmond,  Va.,  June  16,  1865,  at  expira- 
tion of  service. 

Melvin  H.  Walker,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Silas,  Jr.,  and  Louisa  A.; 
enlisted,  April  25,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 


RECORDS  OF  SOLDIERS.  323 

in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Bom,  Barre,  Jan.  23,  1842  ; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  wounded  in  right  foot  at  battle  of 
Gettysburg ;  was  a  prisoner  three  days  at  the  same  time  ;  was 
promoted  corporal,  then  sergeant ;  and  was  discharged  at  Boston, 
Aug.  I,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Austin  Wallace,  married;  enlisted  for  three  years;  mustered, 
Sept.  23,  1861,  in  band  of  22d  Regt.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  183 1  ; 
occupation,  bootmaker.  He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and 
was  discharged  by  Act  of  Congress,  Aug.  11,  1S62. 

Charles  A.  Ware,  enlisted,  April  28,  1864,  for  ninety  days; 
mustered.  May  4,  1864,  in  6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia. 
Bom,  Oakham,  1 846  ;  occupation,  shoemaker.  He  was  stationed 
at  Readville,  Mass.,  and  was  discharged,  Aug.  2,  1864,  at  expira- 
tion of  service. 

William  R.  Warner,  unmarried ;  son  of  George  G.  and  Jane 
E.  B. ;  enlisted,  April  29,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July  16, 

1861,  in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  4th  sergeant.  Born, 
Walpole,  N.  H.,  May  6,  1842;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was  pro- 
moted second  lieutenant,  June  30,  1863,  first  lieutenant.  May  i, 
1864,  and  was  discharged  at  Boston,  Aug.  i,  1S64,  at  expiration  of 
service. 

George  W.  Warren,  unmarried ;  son  of  William  and  Betsey  C. ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  26,    1862,  for  nine  months;    mustered,  Sept.   25, 

1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M.  ;  rank,  third  sergeant. 
Born,  Hopkinton,  April  20,  1840;  occupation,  clerk.  He  was 
discharged  at  Newbern,  N.  C,  March  3,  1863,  by  reason  of  dis- 
ability. He  had  previously  served  three  months  in  Co.  D,  3d 
Battery  Rifles,  stationed  at  Fort  Mc Henry,  Md.  In  1864  he 
served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2)  as  ist  sergeant  in  6th  Unat- 
tached Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville,  Mass. 

Harris  C.  Warren,  unmarried ;  son  of  Isaac  F.  and  Martha  A. ; 
enlisted,  Dec.  i,  1863,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Jan.  4,  1864,  in 
57th  Regt.,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  May  5,  1846  ; 
occupation,  farmer.  He  was  wounded  in  face  and  left  shoulder  in 
front  of  Petersburg,  Va.,  Oct.  8,  1864;  was  taken  prisoner,  March 
25,  1865  ;  was  exchanged  March  30,  1865  ;  and  was  discharged  at 
Annapolis,  Md.,  May  24,  1865,  by  order  of  War  Department. 


324  LATER  HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

Stephen  Warren,  unmarried ;  son  of  Josiah  and  Elizabeth ; 
enlisted,  April  29,  1861,  for  three  years;  mustered,  July  16,  1861, 
in  13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Westborough,  Oct.  i, 
1833;  occupation,  farmer.  He  was  detailed  in  Frederick  City, 
Md.,  Hospital,  and  was  discharged  at  Boston,  Aug.  i,  1864,  at 
expiration  of  service. 

Salem  T.  Weld,  married ;  son  of  Willard  and  Mary  C  ;  enlisted 
for  three  years ;  mustered,  Sept.  11,  1861,  in  band  of  22d  Regt., 
Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Holland,  Sept.  19,  1830;  occupation,  musician. 
He  served  in  Army  of  the  Potomac,  and  was  discharged  at  Alex- 
andria, Va.,  March,  1862,  by  order  of  the  colonel. 

John  C.  Wheeler,  married  ;  son  of  Ephraim  and  Charlotte ; 
enlisted,  Nov.  23,  1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Dec.  6,  1863, 
in  Brigade  Band,  Corps  d'Afrique.  Born,  Fletcher,  Vt.,  Sept.  14, 
1833  ;  occupation,  musician.  He  had  previously  served  ten 
months  (Oct.  5,  1861,  to  Aug.  11,  1862)  in  band  of  22d  Regt., 
Mass.  Vols. 

Charles  H.  Williams,  married  ;  son  of  William  and  Mary  ;  en- 
listed, April  29,  1861,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  July  16,  1861,  in 
13th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  New  York,  April  5,  1829  ; 
occupation,  carpenter.  He  was  transferred  to  Regimental  Band, 
Aug.  7,  1861  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Warrenton,  Va.,  Aug.  27, 
1862,  by  reason  of  Act  of  Congress.  He  afterwards  served  twenty- 
two  months  in  Brigade  Band,  Corps  d'Afrique,  stationed  in  Louisiana. 

Charles  P.  Winslow,  married ;  son  of  Theron  and  Phebe  I. ; 
enlisted,  Aug.  25,  1862,  for  nine  months;  mustered,  Sept.  25, 
1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M. ;  rank,  first  lieutenant. 
Born,  Stockholm,  N.  Y.,  Sept.  22,  1831  ;  occupation,  grocer.  He 
was  discharged  at  Worcester,  July  27,  1863,  at  expiration  of  ser- 
vice. In  1864  he  served  ninety  days  (May  4  to  Aug.  2)  as  cap- 
tain, 6th  Unattached  Company,  Militia,  stationed  at  Readville. 
He  afterwards  served  eleven  months  as  captain  of  Co.  E,  4th 
H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.;  and  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17, 
1865,  at  the  close  of  war.  His  last  enlistment  is  accredited  to  the 
town  of  Chicopee. 

Frederick  A.  Wiswall,  unmarried ;  son  of  Amasa  C.  and  Cla- 
rissa; enlisted,  July  31,  1S62,  for  three  years  ;  mustered,  Aug.  2, 


RECORDS   OF  SOLDIERS.  325 

1862,  in  34th  Regt.,  Co.  C,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1842 ;  occupation, 
farmer.  He  was  discharged  for  promotion  to  second  lieutenant  in 
75th  U.  S.  Colored  Infantry,  Nov.  13,  1863. 

Daniel  T.  Witherbee,  unmarried ;  son  of  Silas  and  Lois  ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in 
Co.  E,  4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols. ;  rank,  corporal.  Born,  Essex,  Vt., 
Nov.  24,  1823  ;  occupation,  click.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia, 
June  17,  1865,  at  the  close  of  war. 

ELvRLAN  F.  WiTHERBY,  unmamcd ;  son  of  Rufus  L.  and  Mary 
A.;  enlisted,  Dec.   2,   1863,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Jan.  4, 

1864,  in  57th  Regt,  Co.  B,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Grafton,  Feb.  11, 
1846;  occupation,  farmer.     He  was  promoted  corporal.  May  i, 

1865,  and  sergeant,  July  i,  1865  ;  and  was  discharged  at  Delaney 
House,  D.  C,  July  30,  1865,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Edwin  D.  Wood,  married;  enlisted,  Aug.  26,  1862,  for  nine 
months ;  mustered,  Sept.  25,  1862,  in  51st  Regt.,  Co.  E,  M.  V.  M. ; 
rank,  corporal.  Born,  1841  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was 
discharged  at  Newbern,  N.  C,  Jan.  16,  1863,  by  reason  of 
disability. 

Robert  Woodman,  married ;  son  of  George  and  Ann  ;  enlisted, 
Aug.  8,  1864,  for  one  year;  mustered,  Aug.  12,  1864,  in  Co.  E, 
4th  H.  A.,  Mass.  Vols.  Born  in  England,  March  30,  1823  ;  occu- 
pation, mechanic.  He  was  discharged  in  Virginia,  June  17,  1865, 
at  the  close  of  war. 

Samuel  Woodside,  married ;  'son  of  Samuel  and  Margaret ;  en- 
listed, Aug.  5,  1862,  for  three  years;  mustered,  Aug.  27,  1862,  in 
36th  Regt.,  Co.  K,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  Calais,  Me.,  Sept.,  1820  ; 
occupation,  carpenter.  He  served  in  Armies  of  Potomac,  Ohio, 
and  Tennessee  ;  was  engaged  in  six  battles  ;  was  wounded  in  right 
thigh  at  battle  of  Rice's  Station,  Tenn.,  Nov.  16,  1863  ;  and 
was  discharged  at  Alexandria,  Va.,  June  8,  1865,  ^^  expiration  of 
service. 

Joseph  W.  Wright,  enlisted  for  one  year;  mustered,  Feb.  8, 
1865,  in  6ist  Regt.,  Co.  I,  Mass.  Vols.  Born,  1844.  He  was 
discharged,  June  7,  1865,  by  order  of  War  Department. 


326  LATER  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


RECORD   OF   SEAMEN  AND   OFFICERS — NAVAL   SERVICE. 

Ira  Barker,  of  Westborough,  is  said  to  have  enlisted  in  the 
navy ;  but  no  such  name  can  be  found  on  the  rolls  as  accredited 
to  Westborough. 

Samuel  N.  Brigham,  unmarried;  son  of  Harrison  F.  and  Susan  ; 
entered  service,  April  7,  1863,  as  landsman  on  the  "Henry  Bnn- 
ker."  Born,  Westborough,  Nov.  23,  1843 ;  occupation,  mechanic. 
He  was  engaged  in  blockade  service;  and  was  discharged  at  Nor- 
folk, Va.,  April  9,  1864,  ^t  expiration  of  service. 

David  N.  Chapin,  unmarried ;  son  of  Marvel  and  Caroline ; 
entered  service,  June  13,  186 1,  as  private  in  U.  S.  Marine  Corps. 
He  served  on  the  "  Potomac  "  and  the  "Brookline."  Born,  West- 
borough, Sept.  12,  1837  ;  occupation,  painter.  He  was  engaged 
in  the  battle  of  New  Orleans,  and  was  discharged  at  Chelsea  Naval 
Hospital,  Mass.,  March  16,  1863,  by  reason  of  disability. 

Patrick  Crow,  unmarried ;  son  of  Michael  and  Ellen ;  entered 
service,  July  29,  186 1,  and  served  as  private  in  U.  S.  Marine 
Corps  on  the  "Congress,"  the  "  Powhattan,"  and  the  "Vermont." 
Born  in  Ireland,  1842  ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  engaged 
in  the  battle  between  the  "Congress"  and  the  ironclad  "  Merri- 
mac"  near  Fortress  Monroe,  Va.,  March  8,  1862  ;  was  on  the  ves- 
sel when  she  went  down,  and  swam  ashore.  He  was  discharged 
at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Dec.  3,  1862,  by  reason  of  disability. 

William  H.  H.  Greenwood,  unmarried ;  son  of  Charles  and 
Charlotte  B. ;  entered  service,  July,  1862,  as  able  seaman  on  the 
"Albatross."  Born,  Westborough,  March  11,  1840;  occupation, 
whaler.  He  served  in  siege  of  Port  Hudson  and  other  actions, 
and  was  discharged  at  New  Orleans,  July,  1863,  at  expiration  of 
service. 

Albert  E.  Harlow,  unmarried ;  son  of  Asa  and  Betsey ;  en- 
tered service,  Sept.  23,  1864,  as  able  seaman.  Born,  Windsor,  Vt., 
May  30,  1840;  occupation,  mariner.  He  was  engaged  in  battle 
at  Fort  Fisher,  N.  C,  Jan.  15,  1865  ;  was  wounded  in  left  hand 
and  body;   was  promoted  captain  of  maintop,  Nov.   11,  1864; 


RECORDS   OF   SEAMEN  AND   OFFICERS.  32/ 

and  was  discharged  at  Charlestown,  Mass.,  July  19,  1865,  at  close 
of  war. 

Samuel  B.  Kinders,  unmarried ;  son  of  Samuel  and  Nancy ; 
entered  service,  May  16,  1863,  as  landsman.  He  served  on  the 
"  Henry  Hudson,"  the  "  Midnight,"  and  the  "  Somerset."  Born, 
Framingham,  Sept.  17,  1845.  He  was  engaged  in  battles  of  Fort 
Fisher,  Fort  Morgan,  and  St.  Andrews ;  was  promoted  seaman ; 
and  was  discharged  at  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  June  11,  1865,  at  expira- 
tion of  service.     Accredited  to  town  of  West  Roxbury,  Mass. 

Albert  L.  Lowd,  unmarried ;  son  of  Leavitt  and  Betsey ;  en- 
tered service,  Oct.  18,  1863,  as  landsman  on  the  "Hendrick  Hud- 
son." Born,  Boston,  Oct.  5,  1847 ;  occupation,  laborer.  He 
was  engaged  in  the  blockade  service,  and  was  discharged  at  New 
York,  Nov.,  1864,  at  expiration  of  service. 

Daniel  McCarthy,  unmarried ;  son  of  Jeremiah  and  Mary ; 
entered  service,  Feb.  15,  1862  (being  transferred  from  36th  N.  Y. 
Infantry), as  seaman  on  the  "Cincinnati."  Bom,  Boston,  May  19, 
1840 ;  occupation,  mechanic.  He  was  engaged  in  battle  of 
Island  No.  10,  Fort  Pillow,  and  Vicksburg ;  acted  as  second- 
class  fireman  3  and  was  discharged  at  Cairo,  111.,  Dec.  20,  1862, 
in  accordance  with  medical  survey. 

WiLLiAivi  A.  Smith,  unmarried  ;  son  of  Timothy  A.  and  Corelia 
M. ;  entered  service,  June  21,  1862,  as  third  assistant  engineer. 
He  served  on  the  " Sonora "  and  the  "Philadelphia."  Born,  Glou- 
cester, March  23,  1836;  occupation,  civil  engineer.  He  was 
engaged  in  six  battles ;  was  promoted  second  assistant  engineer, 
July  30,   1864. 

Caleb  Tarr,  formerly  a  Gloucester  fisherman,  enlisted  in  the 
navy  from  Westborough. 


CHAPTER    III. 

1866-1876. 

THE    soldiers'    MONUMENT.  —  FIRES    AND    NEW    BUILD- 
INGS. —  CELEBRATIONS. 

npHE  war  had  scarcely  come  to  an  end  before  the 
patriotic  citizens  of  many  Northern  towns  sought, 
by  some  appropriate  memorial,  both  to  express  their 
gratitude  to  the  heroes  who  had  died  in  defending  their 
country,  and  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  their  sacrifice. 
The  people  of  Westborough  took  action  with  commend- 
able promptness.  At  the  annual  town-meeting  in  March, 
1866,  it  was  voted  to  erect  "a  granite  monument  in  mem- 
ory of  our  soldiers  who  have  fallen  in  the  late  war,  to  be 
placed  in  the  cemetery  opposite  the  Town  Hall;  "  and  a 
committee,  consisting  of  John  A.  Fayerweather,  Lyman  Bel- 
knap, and  John  Homan,  was  instructed  to  select  a  suitable 
design.  The  committee  reported  in  favor  of  a  monument 
similar  to  one  which  had  just  been  erected  at  Newton, 
and  its  report  was  accepted  by  the  town,  April  i,  1867. 
Another  committee  was  immediately  chosen  to  superin- 
tend the  building  of  a  memorial  in  accordance  with  the 
design  selected.  It  consisted  of  John  A.  Fayerweather, 
Zebina  Gleason,  and  Lyman  Belknap ;  but  on  account  of 
Mr.  Fayerweather's  resignation  and  Mr.  Gleason's  death, 
Reuben  Boynton  and  Timothy  A.  Smith  were  added  to 
the  committee  before   the  completion  of  the  work. 

The  location   of  the   monument  was  for  some  time  a 
matter  of  contention.      Many  citizens  were    in    favor  of 


THE  soldier's   MONUMENT.  329 

erecting  it  in  the  Square ;  and  a  vote  so  to  do  was  passed, 
but  was  afterwards  rescinded  in  favor  of  the  cemetery 
opposite  the  Town  Hall.  The  material  selected  was 
finely  hammered  Concord  granite.  The  monument  was 
completed  in  1869.  Its  cost  was  about  $4,300.  It  is  by 
no  means  an  elaborate  memorial,  but  plain,  unpreten- 
tious, and  tasteful.  The  total  height  is  twenty-eight  feet. 
The  base,  sub-base,  and  plinth  are  three  feet  and  nine 
inches  high;  the  die  is  six  feet;  and  over  all  is  a  square 
shaft,  with  chamfered  corners  and  sunk  panels  moulded. 
On  the  front  of  the  monument  is  the  inscription,  — 

THE   SOLDIERS'   MONUMENT. 

ERECTED   BY  THE  TOWN,  1868. 

PRO  PATRIA  MORTUI  SUNT. 

Chiselled  on   its  granite  tablets  are  the  names  of  the 
fallen  soldiers :  — 

Minot  C.  Adams.  William  H.  H.  Greenwood. 

William  H.  Blake.  Francis  E.  Hanley. 

Herbert  W.  Bond.  George  C.  Haraden. 

John  S.  Burnap.  Henry  A.  Harris. 

Charles  S.  Carter.  John  A.  Hart. 

George  S.  Chickering.  Abner  W.  Haskell. 

John  Copeland.  Francis  E.  Kemp. 

Thomas  Copeland.  William  C.  Loker. 

William  Denny.  Jeremiah  W.  Marsh. 

Timothy  Driscoll.  Daniel  B.  Miller. 

Hollis  H.  Fairbanks.  Herbert  O.  Smith. 

John  Flye.  James  H.  Sullivan. 
Irving  E.  Walker. 

The  dedication  of  the  monument  took  place  on  June 
17,  1869.  It  was  a  beautiful  day;  and  the  deep  interest 
of  the  occasion  attracted  a  large  gathering.  A  platform, 
for  the  committee  and  those  who  participated  in  the  exer- 


330  LATER  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

cises,  had  been  erected  near  the  entrance  of  the  cemetery. 
The  exercises  began  at  two  o'clock,  when  Dr.  WiUiam 
Curtis,  president  of  the  day,  called  upon  the  Rev.  W.  G. 
Todd,  pastor  of  the  Unitarian  Church,  to  offer  prayer. 
Then  came  the  singing  of  an  appropriate  ode,  under  the 
direction  of  S.  Dexter  Fay.  Lyman  Belknap,  in  behalf 
of  the  committee,  made  a  report,  and,  after  relating  the 
history  of  the  enterprise  from  beginning  to  completion, 
formally  surrendered  the  monument  to  the  town.  Charles 
P.  Rice,  chairman  of  the  board  of  selectmen,  made  a  fit- 
ting speech  in  acceptance.  Then  followed  the  dedicatory 
address  by  the  Rev.  C.  W.  Flanders,  D.D.,  pastor  of  the 
Baptist  Church.  He  referred  to  the  great  antiquity  of 
monuments,  their  meaning  and  purpose,  and  emphasized 
the  truth  that  they  should  keep  green  the  memory  of 
great  deeds,  and  should  never  immortalize  vice.  This 
monument,  which  they  were  dedicating,  he  said,  was  a 
tribute  appropriate  and  well  deserved ;  for  it  was  in  mem- 
ory of  noble  young  men,  once  residents  of  the  town,  whose 
valor,  as  they  went  forth  to  fight  and  fall  in  a  cause  ap- 
proved of  God,  won  the  sincerest  admiration. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Dr.  Flanders's  address,  the  as- 
semblage crossed  to  the  Town  Hall,  where  the  remaining 
exercises  were  held.  Dr.  George  B.  Loring,  of  Salem,  the 
present  Minister  to  Portugal,  had  been  invited  to  deliver  the 
oration.  He  was  somewhat  late,  but  impromptu  addresses 
by  Abijah  Wood,  a  former  resident  of  Westborough,  who 
had  moved  to  Grand  Rapids,  Mich.,  and  by  S.  Taylor 
Fay,  filled  the  interval  before  his  arrival.  The  oration 
aroused  much  enthusiasm.  After  eulogizing  the  character 
of  Washington,  and  paying  an  impressive  tribute  to  the 
stern  patriotism  of  Revolutionary  heroes,  the  orator  set 
forth  in  vivid  language  its  modern  counterpart,  as  exem- 


NEW   BUILDINGS.  331 

plified  in  the  sacrifices  of  the  dead  soldiers  in  whose  mem- 
ory the  monument  was  erected. 

At  the  close  of  his  eloquent  tribute,  the  singing  of  a 
hymn,  written  for  the  occasion  by  Miss  Eliza  Evans, 
brought  the  exercises  to  an  end. 

The  spring  of  1869  saw  the  completion  of  another  im- 
portant undertaking,  —  the  building  of  Post-Office  Block. 
The  old  Parkman  Store,  which  had  stood  on  the  site  for 
seventy  years,  was  burned  to  the  ground  on  the  night 
of  March  28,  1868.  Aid  from  Northborough  and  from 
Woodville  saved  adjoining  property  from  destruction.  The 
burned  building  was  an  old  wooden  two-story  structure, 
interesting  for  its  associations,  but,  like  many  other  land- 
marks, no  great  ornament  to  the  village.  John  A.  Fayer- 
weather,  who  had  owned  it  wholly  or  in  part  for  thirty-two 
years,  in  company  with  Albert  J.  Burnap  and  George  O. 
Brigham,  immediately  set  about  the  erection  of  the  brick 
three-story  block  now  standing  on  the  site.  It  was  com- 
pleted in  the  following  spring,  and  in  June  the  Post-Office 
was  moved  from  the  corner  of  Main  and  South  Streets  to 
the  new  building.  It  has  remained  there  ever  since,  and 
given  the  building  the  name  of  Post-Office  Block.  This 
was  the  first  of  the  modern  business  blocks  erected  in 
Westborough,  and  the  general  sentiment  on  the  occasion 
is  interesting.  "  Without  doubt,"  said  the  Saturday  Even- 
ing Chronotype  and  Weekly  Review,  —  to  give  the  local 
paper  of  the  day  its  official  name,  —  "  it  is  one  of  the  best 
and  completest  structures  of  the  kind  in  this  vicinity,  and 
it  is  metropolitan  in  style  throughout.  As  we  have  re- 
marked, it  is  a  gratifying  index  to  our  prosperous  town, 
destined,  as  we  confidently  believe,  to  be  the  largest  man- 
ufacturing village  in  this  vicinity.  Ten  years  ago  the  want 
of  such  a  building  could  hardly  be  said  to  exist,  but  now 


332  LATER   HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

it  is  Otherwise,  and  as  a  community  we  have  a  right  to 
pride  ourselves  on  the  munificent  manner  in  which  the 
want  has  been  met  and  filled." 

The  town  had  already  begun  to  feel  its  change  from 
a  farming  to  a  manufacturing  community,  and  the  decade 
from  1866  to  1876,  in  addition  to  Post-Office  Block,  saw 
considerable  building  in  the  centre  of  the  village.  Among 
the  important  changes  was  the  remodelling  of  the  Town 
Hall,  in  1867.  The  work  was  under  the  direction  of  a 
committee  consisting  of  Greenleaf  C.  Sanborn,  Curtis  Bee- 
man,  Albert  J.  Burnap,  George  B.  Brigham,  and  George 
H.  Raymond.  The  change  consisted  in  raising  the  build- 
ing twelve  feet,  and  putting  an  addition  of  twenty-six  feet 
on  the  rear.  The  alterations  cost  about  ^18,000,  and, 
although  the  expense  was  heavy,  Westborough  was  pleased 
with  the  result;  but  the  poet  at  the  dedication  of  North- 
borough's  excellent  Town  Hall  a  year  later,  was  able  to 
twit  the  mother  town  in  the  following  fashion:  — 

But  one  thing  you  have  done,  depend  upon  it ! 

On  this  I  ought  to  write  a  sonnet. 

You  've  stirred  up  envy  in  each  neighboring  town. 

And  on  you,  for  a  season,  they  '11  be  "  down." 

At  first,  they  asked,  "  What  do  these  feeble  Jews  ?" 

Their  bold  derision  only  could  amuse. 

"  Is  little  Northborough,  youngest  of  the  flock 

Of  '  Borough  '  towns,  to  beat  the  parent  stock?" 

True,  Mother  Westborough  has  given  her  hall  a  dressing, 

But  she  will  give  her  daughter  such  a  blessing ! 

The  pert  young  minx,  to  go  and  build  of  brick, 

And  humble  thus  her  mother's  pride  so  slick! 

But  "  her  mother's  pride "  has  never  been  sufficiently 
strong  to  cause  the  erection  of  a  new  hall. 

In  1868,  Reuben  Boynton  erected  his  block  on  Main 
Street,  and  moved  his  market  from  the  basement  under 
D.  S.  Dunlap  &  Son's  present  store  to  the  street  floor  of 
the  new  building.     Meat  had  hitherto  been  sold  only  in 


n 
o 
m 

O 

o 
td 

Cd 
r 
o 
o 
?^ 


NEW  BUILDINGS.  333 

basements,  or  from  "  butcher's  carts  "  in  the  Square,  and 
the  novelty  of  a  market  above  ground  excited  consider- 
able comrrient. 

In  1869,  Bacon  &  Williams  built  a  large  sleigh-shop  at 
the  corner  of  Milk  and  PhiUips  Streets.  H.  O.  Bernard 
&  Co.  erected  their  factory  for  making  straw  goods  in 
the  winter  of  1870.  American  Block  was  erected  by  D.  W. 
Forbes  and  J.  H.  Holland  in  1871 ;  and  during  the  same 
year  the  American  Straw  Sewing  Machine  Company  built 
the  shop  now  occupied  by  the  Leicester  Piano  Company, 
near  the  head  of  Summer  Street.  The  old  Union  Block, 
where  Spaulding's  Block  now  stands,  was  burned  on  the 
night  of  April  14,  1872,  and  the  present  structure  soon 
afterward  took  its  place.  In  1873,  the  building  next  to 
the  VVestborough  Hotel,  on  South  Street,  was  erected  by 
George  H.  Raymond  and  Charles  D.  Cobb;  and  in  1874, 
Alvan  Davenport  built  his  grain  store  on  Milk  Street, 

The  churches,  too,  felt  the  stimulus  of  the  town's 
growth.  In  1864,  the  Methodists  had  built  their  present 
house  of  worship.  The  Baptists,  in  1869,  sold  their  meet- 
ing-house to  the  Roman  Catholics,  who  moved  it  to  a  lot 
on  Milk  Street.  It  had  already  been  moved  to  the  site  of 
the  present  Baptist  parsonage  to  make  room  for  the  new 
church,  which  was  completed,  at  a  cost  of  $21,000,  in  1869. 
During  the  same  year,  the  former  parsonage  on  South 
Street  having  been  sold  to  L.  R.  Bates  and  J.  E.  Parker 
in  1866,  the  Society  erected  their  present  parsonage  on 
land  gi\'en  for  the  purpose  by  Deacon  Lyman  Belknap. 
The  Evangelical  Society  also  rebuilt  and  enlarged  their 
church  in  1869;  and  in  1872,  partly  with  a  legacy  of 
$2,000  from  Albert  W.  Smith,  built  their  parsonage  on 
Church  Street. 

The  improvement  in  streets  and  sidewalks  kept  pace 


334^  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

with  the  improvement  in  buildings.  In  1872,  the  county 
roads  from  the  Southborough  line  to  the  Silas  Howe 
place  on  the  Grafton  road,  and  from  the  Square  to  the 
"No.  4"  School-house,  —  Main  Street  and  South  Street, 

—  were  re-located,  and  in  many  places  widened.  Con- 
crete sidewalks  were  laid  as  an  experiment  in  1873; 
and  so  satisfactory  was  the  result  that  during  the  fol- 
lowing year  the  town  expended,  including  assessments, 
$2,065.20  for  these  excellent  walks.  By  yearly  appro- 
priations of  about  1^500,  the  walks,  at  present  about 
eleven  miles  in  extent,  have  been  extended  to  all  parts  of 
the  village.  The  town  also  began  to  take  an  interest  in 
shade  trees;  and  in  1876  the  trees  in  "Centennial  Park," 
along  the  northeast  side  of  Milk  Street,  were  set  out.  The 
Village  Improvement  Society  has  since  carried  on  the 
work,  with  a  result  that  is  appreciated  more  and  more 
each  year. 

During  the  night  of  June  17,  1873,  the  town  suffered 
another  disastrous  fire.  The  three  wooden  buildings  which 
occupied  the  site  of  the  present  Central  and  Henry  Blocks 

—  known  as  Corner  Block,  Eagle  Block,  and  the  Protective 
Union  Store  —  were  burned  to  the  ground.  The  rest  of 
the  village  barely  escaped  destruction  ;  but  aid  from 
Northborough  and  from  Woodville  again  came  to  the 
rescue,  and  the  steamer  "  Gov.  Lincoln  "  —  which  came 
from  Worcester  in  twelve  minutes  —  rendered  efficient 
service.  The  loss  was  estimated  at  $40,000.  It  was  an 
incendiary  fire,  and  Antonio  Joan,  who  roomed  in  Eagle 
Block,  is  now  serving  a  life  sentence  in  the  State  prison 
for  setting  it.  The  site  was  too  valuable  to  remain  vacant, 
and  the  two  present  buildings  were  immediately  erected, 
one  by  S.  G.  Henry,  and  the  other  by  Samuel  M.  Griggs 
and  Geofge  O.  Brigham. 


ANNIVERSARY.  335 

In  the  spring  of  1875,  the  old  wooden  railroad  station, 
against  which  the  community  had  protested  for  a  dozen 
years,  gave  place  to  the  present  structure.  The  tracks, 
which  had  previously  run  on  each  side  of  the  old  station, 
were  moved  to  the  north  of  the  new  one,  and  the  sur- 
roundings were  otherwise  improved.  Although  now  in 
appearance  and  accommodations  inferior  to  many,  the 
station  at  Westborough  was  at  that  time  called  the  best 
between  Boston  and  Worcester. 

The  closing  years  of  the  decade  (i  866-1 876)  saw  two 
interesting  and  noteworthy  celebrations  in  Westborough. 
The  first  was  the  hundred  and  fiftieth  anniversary  of  the 
founding  of  the  first  church.  It  took  place  on  October  28, 
1874,  —  one  of  the  loveliest  days  of  the  year.  The  Evan- 
gelical Church,  which  was  beautifully  decorated  for  the 
occasion  with  flowers  and  evergreens,  was  filled  to  over- 
flowing. The  names  of  the  pastors  from  the  founding 
of  the  church  were  conspicuous  among  the  decorations 
in  the  rear  of  the  pulpit,  as  follows:  — 

1724-1874. 

Parkman.  Beers. 

Robinson.  Cady. 

RocKwooD.  Sheldon. 

KiTTREDGE.  DeAN. 

De  Forest. 

The  exercises  were  opened  with  reading  of  Scripture, 
and  prayer,  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Willard,  of  Marlborough. 
The  historical  address,  tracing  the  organization  and  growth 
of  the  church,  was  delivered  by  the  pastor,  the  Rev.  H.  P. 
De  Forest.  At  its  close,  dinner  was  served  in  the  Town 
Hall  to  some  six  hundred  persons.  Hon.  Samuel  M. 
Griggs  was  master  of  ceremonies.  After-dinner  speeches 
were  made  by  the  pastors  of  the  local  churches,  and  of 


336  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

the  churches  in  neighboring  towns.  At  the  close  of  the 
exercises  in  the  Town  Hall,  the  audience  assembled  again 
in  the  church,  where  a  praise  service,  conducted  by  Moses 
H.  Sargent,  of  Boston,  was  held.  At  its  close,  the  former 
pastors  of  the  church  who  were  present  —  the  Rev.  Charles 
B.  Kittredge,  the  Rev.  Daniel  R.  Cady,  D.D.,  and  the  Rev. 
Luther  H.  Sheldon  —  were  escorted  to  the  pulpit.  Each 
made  appropriate  remarks,  and  several  letters  from  per- 
sons unable  to  be  present  were  read.  In  the  evening 
the  celebration  was  brought  to  an  end  by  a  large  social 
gathering  in  the  vestry  of  the  church. 

In  1876  came  another  occasion  of  great  interest,  —  the 
celebration  of  national  independence.  A  hundred  years 
had  passed  since  the  Colonies  had  shaken  off  the  yoke 
of  England,  and  become  an  independent  nation.  From 
thirteen  States  they  had  increased  to  thirty-seven,  from 
three  million  people  to  over  forty  million.  The  prosperity 
which  had  attended  their  century  of  existence,  and  the  suc- 
cess of  republican  government,  made  a  celebration  of  the 
hundredth  national  birthday  a  joyful  and  inspiring  event. 
The  Great  Exposition  at  Philadelphia  drew,  it  was  esti- 
mated, three  hundred  persons  from  Westborough ;  but 
the  local  celebration  on  the  Fourth  of  July  is  the  event 
with  which  our  history  is  chiefly  concerned.  Throughout 
the  land,  nearly  every  city,  town,  and  village  arranged  a 
special  observance  of  the  anniversary.  In  Westborough 
preparations  began  early,  and  were  elaborately  carried  out. 
The  great  day  came  on  Tuesday.  On  the  Sunday  pre- 
ceding, in  accordance  with  the  President's  proclamation, 
special  services  with  reference  to  the  occasion  were  held 
at  the  different  churches.  For  days  before  the  Fourth, 
the  small  boys  tooted  horns,  and  wasted  fire-crackers  and 
torpedoes,  with  more  than   ordinary  zeal.     Monday  was 


THE   CENTENNIAL   CELEBRATION.  337 

spent  in  decorating  stores,  residences,  and  factories,  and 
in  preparing  for  the  grand  illumination.  The  national 
colors,  in  flags  and  streamers,  moving  gracefully  in  the 
breeze,  met  the  eye  on  every  side.  By  sunset  the  pre- 
parations were  complete;  and  at  eight  o'clock,  as  if  by 
magic,  a  scene  of  brilhancy  burst  forth  that  was  prob- 
ably never  equalled  in  Westborough.  Chinese  lanterns 
and  scores  of  candles,  tastefully  arranged,  illumined  al- 
most every  building  on  the  principal  streets.  The  "  small 
boy,"  alive  to  the  importance  of  the  occasion,  added  the 
din  of  torpedoes,  crackers,  and  horns  to  the  pleasure  of 
the  scene.  During  the  whole  night  Young  America  kept 
up  tlie  music;  and  at  sunrise  the  pealing  of  bells  an- 
nounced that  the  nation's  hundredth  birthday  had  arrived. 
At  six  o'clock,  the  "  Horribles,"  with  their  ridiculous  dis- 
g\iises,  —  Indians,  minstrels,  beasts,  and  the  rest,  —  par- 
aded through  the  village.  The  more  dignified  procession 
began  its  march  at  nine  o'clock,  in  the  following  order:  — 

Chief  Marshal. 
GEORGE   T.   FAYERWEATHER. 

Aids. 
L.  J.  Elwell.  T.  B.  Smart. 

O.  C.  Jaquith.  Willard  Comey. 

F.  W.  Moses.  C.  A.  Harrington. 

S.  O.  Staples.  John  Hayden. 

F.  W.  Powers. 

Westborough  Cornet  Band. 
Eighteen  members  :  M.  G.  Turner,  leader. 

Fire  Department. 

Under  command  of  Assistant  Engineer  S.  W.  Mann. 

Chauncy  Engine  Company,  No.  i,  thirty  men  ;   C.  H.  Williams, 

Foreman. 


338  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

Steamer  Jackson,  No.  2,  twenty  men ;  Silas  H.  Brigham,  Assistant 
Foreman,  in  place  of  D.  P.  Brigham,  Foreman. 

First  Division. 

G.  J.  Jackson,  Marshal :  Aids,  D.  D.  Dinan  and  C.  E.  Smith. 

Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  forty  men. 

Second  Division. 
L.  P.  Day,  Marshal :  Aids,  P.  Maguire  and  G.  W.  Graves. 
Drum  Corps,  eight  members. 
Lyman  Cadets,  about  sixty  members ;  Lyman  Engine  Company,  with 
engine,  twenty-six  members  ;  and  other  boys,  two  hundred  and 
twenty  in  number,  all  from  the  State  Reform  School,  —  headed 
by  G.  W.  Sullivan,  Drum  Major. 

Third  Division. 

G.  L  Smith,  Marshal :  Aids,  James  Donovan  and  James  E.  Quinn. 

The  Continental  Congress,  represented  by  sixteen  members  of  the 
Young  Men's  Debating  Society. 

Tableau  Car,  containing  fourteen  young  ladies,  one  representing  the 
Goddess  of  Liberty,  and  the  others  the  thirteen  original  States. 

Carriages,  containing  the  orator  of  the  day,  Rev.  H.  P  De  Forest  ; 
Chaplain,  Rev.  Z.  A.  Mudge;  Committee  of  Arrangements,  Dr. 
William  Curtis,  M.  H.  Walker,  C.  E.  Fay,  H.  B.  Nourse, 
Wm.  Magner,  and  J.  H.  Sawyer. 

After  passing  through  the  principal  streets,  the  proces- 
sion, followed  by  a  long  line  of  carriages,  proceeded  to 
the  Grove  at  Lake  Chauncy,  where  the  exercises  were 
to  take  place.  The  Committee  had  arranged  seats  for  a 
thousand  persons.  A  large  Yale  tent  and  a  canopy,  pro- 
cured from  Boston,  afiforded  protection  from  the  burning 
sun.  Small  tents,  erected  for  the  different  committees 
and  for  private  gatherings,  gave  the  grounds  a  martial 
look.  The  Pavilion  —  marked  for  the  occasion  "  Cen- 
tennial House  —  Free  to  All  —  Town  of  Westborough, 
Proprietor"  —  was  in  charge  of  the  Committee  on  Hospi- 


THE  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.  339 

talities  and  Supplies,  and  refreshments  were  served  to  all 
who  came. 

The  exercises  began  soon  after  the  arrival  of  the  proces- 
sion. The  members  of  the  Continental  Congress,  repre- 
sented by  members  of  the  Young  Men's  Debating  Society, 
marched  with  stately  tread  to  their  seats  on  the  platform. 
After  remarks  by  several  speakers,  the  Declaration  of 
Independence  was  produced  and  signed.  Richard  Mon- 
tague then  stepped  forward,  and  distinctly  and  impres- 
sively read  the  document  to  the  audience.  The  choir, 
under  the  direction  of  S.  Dexter  Fay,  then  sang  "  The 
Star-spangled  Banner,"  the  audience  joining  in  the  chorus. 
After  prayer  by  the  Rev.  Z.  A.  Mudge,  pastor  of  the 
Methodist  Church,  the  following  hymn,  written  for  the 
occasion  by  the  Rev.  B.  A.  Greene,  pastor  of  the  Baptist 
Church,  was  sung  to  the  tune  of  the  "  Missionary  Chant." 

A  hundred  years,  and  still  doth  stand 

Our  fair  Republic,  through  whose  frame 
A  life  tides  on,  as  strong,  as  grand, 

As  any  of  historic  fame. 

Our  God,  our  fathers'  God,  to  Thee 

A  nation  lifts  her  voice  of  praise ; 
Thy  hand,  throughout  the  century, 

Hath  filled  with  blessings  all  our  days. 

As  in  the  past,  our  growth  thine  eye 

Hath  watched,  frowned  on  our  wrong,  our  right 

Approved,  so  in  this  century 
Begun  send  thou  dark  or  light ; 

Keep  back  tyrannic  power  from  rule 

Throughout  our  country's  wide  extent ; 
In  state  and  church,  in  mart  and  school. 

Let  there  be  righteous  government ; 

Give  freedom  home  in  every  State ; 

Make  every  hearthstone  virtue's  shrine  ; 
Let  not  again  war  desolate, 

But  peace  with  golden  fruitage  shine. 


340  LATER  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Then  hail  this  glad  Centennial  day; 

From  all  our  hearts  let  incense  rise; 
All  praise  our  God  in  joyful  lay,  — 

Yea,  with  our  chorus  rend  the  skies. 

The  historical  oration  was  then  delivered  by  the  Rev. 
H.  P.  De  Forest,  pastor  of  the  Evangelical  Church.  He 
reviewed  the  history  of  the  town,  with  special  reference 
to  its  share  in  the  Revolutionary  War.  The  pavilion  was 
crowded  during  the  hour  and  a  half  occupied  by  the 
delivery  of  the  oration,  and  the  close  attention  of  the 
hearers  attested  its  excellence. 

After  an  intermission  of  an  hour,  during  which  the 
accommodations  of  the  '*  Centennial  House  "  were  severely 
taxed,  the  audience  reassembled  for  the  remaining  exer- 
cises. Melvin  H.  Walker,  of  the  Committee  of  Arrange- 
ments, called  the  assembly  to  order.  Several  songs,  under 
the  direction  of  S.  Dexter  Fay,  were  rendered  by  a  chorus 
of  fifty  children. 

Then  came  the  "  toasts  and  responses,"  interspersed 
with  music  by  the  band.  Sherman  Converse  was  toast- 
master.  The  toasts,  which  called  forth  the  wit  and  elo- 
quence of  local  orators,  were  as  follows :  — 

The  first  sentiment: 

"The  day  we  celebrate,  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  our 
nation's  birth.  May  she  live  to  see  the  centennial  of  centuries  cele- 
brated by  a  nation  of  freemen." 

Response  by  the  Rev.  C.  W.  Emerson,  pastor  of  the 
Unitarian  Church. 

The  second  sentiment: 

"  The  Declaration  of  Independence,  —  the  death-knell  of  mon- 
archies, and  the  herald  of  republics." 

Response  by  Frank  S.  Adams. 


i 


'i/l/UiouJ 


A 


THE  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.        34 1 

The  third  sentiment : 

"  The  nation  our  fathers  gave  us,  and  for  which  their  sons  have 
died.  May  the  dangers  which  threaten  from  ignorance,  extrava- 
gance, fraud,  and  corruption  pass  away,  and  education,  economy, 
honesty,  and  integrity  continue  the  buhvarks  of  its  Hberties." 

Response  by  the  Rev.  B.  A.  Greene. 

The  fourth  sentiment: 

"Uncle  Sam's  Wedding  March." 

Response  by  the  Band,  —  playing  "Yankee  Doodle." 

The  fifth  sentiment : 

"  Our  adopted  fellow-citizens." 

Response  by  the  Rev.  Patrick  Egan,  pastor  of  St.  Luke's 
Church. 

The  sixth  sentiment: 

"  Westborough,  beautiful  for  situation.  The  record  of  the  town 
fathers  comes  down  to  us  through  the  generations  untarnished. 
May  her  record  in  the  centuries  to  come  be  the  pride  of  all  her 
citizens." 

Response  by  Dr.  William  Curtis. 

The  seventh  sentiment : 

"  The  soldiers  in  blue  and  the  soldiers  in  gray.  May  the  dis- 
cordant notes  of  war  be  lost  amid  the  fading  echoes  of  time,  and 
the  melodies  of  peace  blend  with  the  chiming  of  our  national 
blessings,  so  that,  united  again  in  brotherly  love,  we  may  all 
bless  the  God  of  our  fathers  for  preserving  the  Republic  to  these 
days  of  1876." 

Response  by  Arthur  G.  Biscoe,  Esq. 

The  eighth  sentiment : 

"  Our  centennial  bird,  —  the  American  eagle." 
Response  by  Hiram  L.  Broaders. 


342  LATER  HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

The  ninth  sentiment: 

"  The  Independent  Press,  —  the  conservator  of  political  and 
religious  freedom.  While  a  terror  to  demagogues,  it  is  to  the 
pure  in  spirit  the  beacon-light  of  safety." 

Response  by  Charles  H.  Thurston,  of  the  Westborougk 
Chronotype. 

The  tenth  sentiment: 

"The  fair  daughters  of  Westborough.  Judged  by  their  patri- 
otism and  devotion,  worthy  successors  of  our  grandmothers  of 
1776." 

Response  by  the  Rev.  Z.  A.  Mudge. 

The  eleventh  sentiment: 

"  Our  firemen ;  always  ready,  may  they  never  be  wanted  for 
service." 

Response  by  George  H.  Raymond. 

The  twelfth  sentiment : 

"  The  sons  and  daugliters  of  Westborough  who  have  gone  from 
the  parental  roof.     May  they  never  forget  their  native  town." 

Response  by  Charles  E.  Raymond,  of  Boston. 

The  thirteenth  sentiment : 

"While  rejoicing  in  the  centennial  glories  of  our  educational 
institutions,  let  us  not  be  unmindful  of  that  mighty  engine  of  self- 
culture,  the  village  lyceum  and  debating  society." 

Response  by  Louis  E,  Denfeld. 

The  toasts  and  responses  occupied  two  hours,  after 
which  came  a  series  of  athletic  contests  on  land  and  water. 
There  was  a  hurdle-race,  a  foot-race,  a  swimming-match, 
a  double-shell  race,  and  other  contests  in  which  the  local 
athletes  furnished  much  amusement  and  excitement.  As 
darkness    approached,    the    throng    returned,    tired    and 


THE  CENTENNIAL  CELEBRATION.         343 

happy,  to  the  village.  When  the  sun  went  down,  the 
bells  again  rang  out  in  joyful  peals  of  triumph,  and  the 
band,  stationed  in  front  of  the  Town  Hall,  played  its 
most  inspiring  airs.  After  dark,  an  exhibition  of  fire- 
works from  a  knoll  near  the  head  of  Summer  Street 
brought  to  a  close  the  most  elaborate  celebration  in  the 
history  of  VVestborough. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

1860-1890. 

GROWTH   OF  THE  TOWN.  —  POPULATION.  —  AGRICULTURE 
AND   MANUFACTURES.  —  WEALTH. 

THE  growth  of  Westborough  from  a  weak  and  strug- 
gling settlement  on  the  outskirts  of  civilization  to 
a  thriving  town  with  well-tilled  farms  and  busy  factories, 
has  already  been  partially  treated  by  Mr.  De  Forest  in 
the  earlier  pages  of  our  history.  In  bringing  down  to 
the  present  day,  however,  the  record  of  its  increase  in 
population  and  wealth,  and  the  development  of  its  various 
industries,  I  shall  trespass  a  little  on  his  territory. 

Both  before  and  since  the  beginning  of  the  Civil  War 
the  growth  of  the  town  has  been  slow  and  steady.  With 
the  possible  exception  of  the  period  from  1870  to  1875, 
when  there  was  a  gain  of  1,540  inhabitants,  —  the  figures 
jumping  from  3,601  to  5,141,  —  there  has  been  no  sudden 
increase  which  may  be  regarded  as  a  "  boom."  From 
1765  to  1800,  the  returns  indicate  a  decrease  in  popu- 
lation from  1,110  to  922;  but  the  methods  of  taking 
the  census,  and  its  importance,  were  not  at  that  time 
so  clearly  understood,  and  the  accuracy  of  the  figures  is 
questionable.  From  1800  to  1834,  when  the  Boston  and 
Worcester  Railroad  was  completed  to  Westborough,  the 
increase  in  population  was  very  slow.  With  the  opening 
of  railroad  communication,  however,  the  growth  of  the 
town  was   assured ;    and    nearly  every  census   since   has 


STATISTICS   OF  POPULATION. 


345 


shown  a  healthy  and  substantial  gain.  The  actual  growth, 
in  fact,  has  been  more  regular  than  the  figures  would  in- 
dicate; for  the  great  variation  in  the  number  of  boys 
at  the  State  Reform  School  (now  the  Lyman  School) 
and  the  condition  of  local  industries,  go  far  toward 
accounting  for  any  unusual  change.  Thus,  the  apparent 
decrease  from  5,214  inhabitants  in  1880  to  4,880  in  1885 
was  due  not  so  much  to  a  diminution  in  the  number  of 
permanent  residents  as  to  the  removal  of  boys  from 
the  Reform  School  and  to  a  temporary  depression  in 
business. 

The  following  table  shows  the  population  of  Westbor- 
ough  at  various  periods :  — 


STATISTICS  OF  POPULATION. 


Year.  Population. 

1765 1,110 

900 

934 

922 

1,048 

1,326 


1776 
1790 
1800 
1810 
1820 
1830 
1840 
1850 


1,438 
1,658 

2,371 


Year. 
185s 
i860 
1865 
1870 
1875 
1880 
1885 
1890 


Population. 

3,014 
2,913 
3,141 
3,601 
5,141 

5,214 
4,880 
5,263 1 


The  population  has  undergone  a  great  change  in  the 
past  forty  years,  accompanying  the  development  of  the 
town   from    a   farming    to    a    manufacturing    community. 

1  This  is  the  estimate  of  Supervisor  Wadlin.  The  reader  should  bear 
in  mind  that  the  State  census  of  18S5  was  taken  in  May,  and  that  the  United 
States  census  of  1890  was  taken  in  June.  Had  the  latter  been  taken  a 
month  earlier, —  before  the  busy  season  at  the  straw  shops  had  ended, — 
the  population  would  have  been  about  four  hundred  more  than  the  figures 
indicate.  In  1880  the  Reform  School  contributed  235  to  the  population, 
in  1885, 121,  and  in  1890  (the  Lyman  School)  229.  The  Westborough  Insane 
Hospital,  established  in  1886,  added  606  to  the  population  of  1890. 


346  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Until  the  middle  of  the  present  century,  the  inhabitants 
were  nearly  all  of  native  birth,  —  the  descendants  of  set- 
tlers who  came  to  this  country  between  1630  and  1675. 
The  immigration  of  Irish  and  other  foreign  nationalities 
began  about  1850;  but  as  early  as  1855  nearly  one  sixth 
of  the  population  was  of  foreign  birth.  In  1885  the  paren- 
tage of  the  people  of  Westborough,  as  compiled  from 
the  census,  was  as  follows ;  — 

PARENTAGE. 

Total  population  of  Westborough,  May  I,  1885 4,880 

Number  both  of  whose  parents  were  native 2,899 

Number  both  of  whose  parents  were  foreign I5716 

Number  whose  father  was  native  and  mother  foreign    .     .  115 

Number  whose  father  was  foreign  and  moth^  native    .     .  119 

Number  with  one  or  both  parents  unknown 31 

Number  born  of  Irish  parentage I)I44 

Of  whom  there  were  foreign  born 426 

The  remainder,  native  born 718 

Number  born  of  British^  parentage 282 

Of  whom  there  were  foreign  born 210 

The  remainder,  native  born 72 

Number  of  Canadian  (French)  parentage 163 

Of  whom  there  were  foreign  born 76 

The  remainder,  native  born 87 

Number  born  of  other  foreign  parentage 127 

Of  whom  there  were  foreign  born 56 

The  remainder,  native  bom 71 

The  principal  employments  in  which  the  people  of 
Westborough  have  been  engaged  during  the  past  thirty 
years  are  agriculture  and  the  manufacture  of  boots  and 
shoes,  sleighs,  and  straw  goods. 

The  earliest,  as  we  have  already  seen,  and  until  recent 

^  Including  England,  Scotland,  and  all  the  British  possessions  except 
Canada. 


AGRICULTURE.  347 

years  the  prevailing,  occupation  was  farming.  The  fer- 
tility of  the  rich  meadow-lands  around  Chauncy  Pond 
attracted  the  first  settlers  from  Marlborough  and  Sud- 
bury. Year  after  year  the  hardy  pioneers  and  their 
descendants  wrestled  with  the  wilderness,  gradually  clear- 
ing away  the  trees  and  preparing  the  soil  for  cultivation 
and  pasturage.  During  the  first  century  after  the  settle- 
ment of  the  town,  farming  was  almost  the  only  occupa- 
tion; even  the  minister  and  the  doctor  could  not  depend 
wholly  on  their  professions  for  support.  The  innumerable 
trades  and  occupations  of  modern  times  had  not,  as  the 
saying  is,,  been  specialized.  The  farmer  was  often  his  own 
blacksmith,  his  own  carpenter,  and  his  own  shoemaker. 
His  wife  not  only  attended  to  the  dairy  and  the  kitchen, 
but  knit  socks,  spun  cloth,  made  clothing,  and,  in  short, 
usurped  the  functions  of  half  a  dozen  different  trades. 
Occasionally  some  rare  genius  would  devote  more  than 
ordinary  attention  to  trading  or  to  mechanical  pursuits ; 
but  farming  was  generally  the  basis  of  whatever  prosperity 
he  enjoyed.  It  was  a  hard  occupation,  but  a  healthful 
and  a  manly  one.  To  the  independent,  outdoor  life 
which  it  made  necessary,  the  descendants  of  old  New 
England  stock  owe  much  of  their  vigor  of  mind  and  body. 
The  sturdy  manhood  which  it  developed,  indeed,  was  of 
greater  importance  and  value  than  its  more  material  pro- 
ducts. The  implements  which  the  farmer  could  secure 
were  at  best  rude  and  clumsy,  the  seasons  were  not  always 
mild  and  favorable,  and  often  he  was  exposed  to  severe 
hardships  and  privations.  The  results  of  his  industry  ap- 
pear in  the  well-cleared  and  well-cultivated  farms  of  to-day, 
and  in  the  comparative  prosperity  of  his  descendants ;  but 
the  immediate  enjoyments  which  he  secured  from  his  labors, 
and  the  pecuniary  value  of  his  products,  were  very  meagre. 


348 


LATER   HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


The  earliest  official  source  from  which  it  is  possible 
to  judge  of  the  nature  and  value  of  agricultural  products 
is  the  Statistics  of  Industry  in  Massachusetts,  compiled 
in  1837.  It  is  a  very  unsatisfactory  report,  however, 
and  regarding  Westborough  agriculture  it  merely  states 
that  there  were  one  hundred  and  thirty-seven  merino 
sheep,  producing  five  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  of  wool, 
valued  at  ^275.  Incomplete  and  almost  worthless  as  these 
early  statistics  are,  they  indicate,  in  this  case,  at  least, 
one  change  in  the  conditions  of  farm  life.  The  transfer 
of  the  industry  to  other  parts  of  the  country  has  made 
sheep-raising  only  a  tradition  among  the  farmers  of  this 
section.  Twenty  years  before  these  statistics  were  com- 
piled, the  sheep  in  Westborough  could  have  been  counted 
by  the  hundred.  One  flock  containing  over  two  thou- 
sand, owned  by  Major  John  Fayerweather,  grazed  on  the 
hills  of  the  present  Pollard  farm.  In  1845,  however,  the 
number  of  sheep  reported  was  only  thirty,  and  in  1885 
the  census-taker  found  none. 

From  the  Statistics  of  Industry  I  have  compiled  the 
following  table,  showing  the  changes  in  farm  property 
since  1845  :  — 

Agricultural  Property. 


1845. 

1855. 

1865. 

1875. 

1885. 

Number  of  farms, 

184 

155 

15s 

Value  of  buildings, 

[$125,576 

$399,680 

$263,605 

Value  of  land, 

$553,043 

$402,735 

Milch  cows,  number, 

897 

885 

966 

1.055 

Heifers, 

170 

181 

193 

^  .343 

Value  of  cows  and  heifers, 

$29,970 

$30,663 

$59,468 

$46,133 

Horses,  number, 

196 

242 

276 

235 

239 

Value, 

$9,780 

$19,360 

$24,659 

$27,140 

$22,362 

Oxen  and  steers,  number, 

228 

151 

48 

29 

Value, 

$12,750 

$4,507 

$3,810 

$2,115 

Swine,  number. 

272 

395 

404 

372 

494 

Value, 

$1,450 

$3,950 

$3,817 

$4,042 

$3,100 

STATISTICS  OF  AGRICULTURE. 


349 


The    more    important    products,    and    their   value,    are 
shown  in  the  following  table :  — 


Agricultural  Products. 


1845. 

1855. 

1865. 

1875. 

1885. 

Milk  produced,  gallons, 

377,192 

193,736^ 

237,442 ' 

451,591 

521,268 

Value, 

$34,045 

$24,217 

$AO,l8l 

$76,696 

$67,574 

Butter,  pounds, 

23,000 

20,779 

6,356^ 

9,037 

13,978 

Value, 

$4,140 

$5,195 

$2,753 

$3,280 

$4,438 

Indian  corn,  bushels, 

13,020 

16,800 

12,790 

8,68 1 

18,511 

Value, 

$9,109 

$16,800 

$19417 

$7,920 

$11,384 

Cereals  (other  than  Indian 

corn),  bushels, 

7,094 

6,973 

5,877 

1,505 

1,003 

Value, 

$3,237 

$5,129 

$6,363 

$1,109 

$846 

Hay,  tons, 

2.303 

2,571 

3,305 

3,489 

3,093 

Value, 

$15,140 

$38,710 

$65,148 

$63,987 

$53,503 

Potatoes,  bushels. 

21,000 

19,200 

16,159 

12,972 

14,460 

Value, 

$4,200 

$9,600 

$13,799 

$9,611 

$8,351 

Eggs,  value, 

$773^ 

$2,089 

$3,920 

Other  poultry  products, 

$6321 

$779 

$1,349 

The  rapid  decrease  in  the  number  of  oxen  is  perhaps 
the  most  noticeable  feature  of  the  first  table.  The  number 
of  cows,  it  will  also  be  noticed,  has  only  slightly  increased, 
the  increase  from  1845  to  1885  being  less  than  eighteen 
per  centum.  The  quantity  of  milk  produced,  however, 
has  increased  thirty-eight  per  centum,  —  a  rate  which  indi- 
cates a  great  improvement  in  the  quality  of  stock,  as  well 
as  better  methods  of  keeping  it.  The  tables  are  sugges- 
tive in  other  ways,  and  will  enable  the  careful  examiner 
to  make  many  useful  comparisons. 

For  the  present  condition  of  agriculture  in  Westborough 
the  census  of  1885  furnishes  much  information.  Of  the 
one  hundred  and  fifty-five  farms  reported,  thirty  were 
less  than  twenty  acres  in  size ;  forty-eight  were  between 
twenty  and  fifty ;  thirty-seven  were  between  fifty  and  one 

1  Amount  sold. 


350 


LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 


hundred;  thirty  were  between  one  hundred  and  one  hun- 
dred and  fifty;  three  were  between  one  hundred  and  fifty 
and  two  hundred ;  three  were  between  two  hundred  and 
three  hundred ;  and  two  were  between  three  hundred  and 
four  hundred  acres.  The  cultivated  land  on  these  farms 
is  divided  as  follows :  — 


2,763    acres  used  for  hay      .     .     .     . 

"  "       principal  crops . 

"  "       market  gardens 

"  "       nurseries      .     . 

"  "       orchards  .     .     . 

"  '•       other  purposes  . 

Total,  4,205^  acres 


I7i 
5 

212 


I'alue, 

$147,131 

42,518 

863 

200 

9,421 

10,668 

$210,801 


The  uncultivated  land  is  divided  as  follows :  — 


4,774l  acres  for  permanent  pasture 

442        "      additional  unimproved 

63I     "      unimprovable    .     .     . 

2,472|     "      for  woodland     .     .     . 

Total,  7,753i  acres 


value,     $108,073 

6,589 

1,314 

•'  78,958 

$194,934 


The  number  of  persons  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits 
in  1885  was  three  hundred  and  fifty-five.  One  hundred 
and  thirty-six  of  these  owned  farms,  two  hundred  and  two 
were  laborers,  and  seventeen  were  not  classified.  The 
result  of  their  labor  appears  in  the  following  table,  which 
gives  in  detail  the  agricultural  products  according  to  the 
census  of  1885. 

Animal  products  (manure  and  hides) $19,568 

Boots  (including  "  work  on  ") 3,024  pairs.  277 

Dairy  products  :  — 

Butter  (for  sale,  9,165  lbs.;  for  use,  4,813  lbs.)    .     .     .  4,438 

Milk 521,268  gals.  67,574 

Cheese  (for  use) 64  lbs.  6 


STATISTICS   OF  AGRICULTURE.  35  I 

Food  products  :  — 

Ice 4,799  tons.  $2,489 

Vinegar  (for  sale,  5,139  gals. ;  for  use,  597  gals.)     .     .  778 

Other  food  products 216 

Greenhouse  products 65 

Hothouse  and  hotbed  products 21 

Liquors  and  beverages  (cider  and  wine) 734 

Nursery  products 2,540 

Poultry  products  :  — 

Eggs 17,387  doz.  3,905 

Dressed  poultry,  etc 1,369 

Wood  products :  — 

Firewood  (for  use,  695  cords  ;  for  sale,  508  cords)  .     .  4,188 

Other  wood  products  (lumber,  railroad  sleepers,  etc.)  .  374 

Other  products  (hops,  seeds,  etc.) 45 

Cereals  :  — 

Indian  corn 18,511  bush.  11,384 

Other  cereals  (oats,  rye,  pop-corn,  etc.) 846 

Fruits,  berries,  and  nuts  :  — 

Apples 10,494  bush.  4,003 

Strawberries 7,494  qts.  .  895 

Other  products 1,736 

Hay,  straw,  and  fodder 69,948 

Meat :  — 

Beef 25,596  lbs.  1,725 

Pork 38,608  lbs.  2,485 

Veal 13,863  lbs.  1,138 

Vegetables :  — 

Potatoes 14,460  bush.  8,351 

Tomatoes 73^635  lbs.  i»334 

Carrots 27,199  heads  1,300 

Other  vegetables 4,426 

Total  products $218,508 

The  production  of  milk,  as  the  foregoing  tables  show, 
has  been  an  important  element  in  Westborough  agriculture 

for  the  past  fifty  years.  The  farmers  began  to  supply 
it  for  the  Boston  market  only  a  few  months  after  the 
opening  of  the  railroad,  in  1834.  A  man  named  Thurston, 
who  lived  in  the  southern  part  of  the  town,  was  the  first  to 


352  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

collect  milk  and  send  it  to  the  city.  He  did  a  small  busi- 
ness in  a  haphazard  way,  and  after  a  year  or  two  left  town 
without  paying  his  -bills.  It  is  worth  noting,  however, 
that  from  his  disappearance  until  the  fall  of  1889  no  West- 
borough  farmer  ever  lost  a  cent  through  the  failure  of  milk 
contractors.  After  Thurston's  unsuccessful  venture,  Jason 
Chamberlain  arranged  to  run  a  short  freight  car  on  the 
morning  passenger  train  to  Boston,  in  which  milk  from 
Westborough  and  Southborough  was  sent  to  the  city. 
For  a  time  the  car  was  drawn  to  the  present  South- 
ville  station  by  horses,  so  that  Winchester's  milk  for  the 
Quincy  Market  might  be  put  on  board  before  the  pas- 
senger train  came  along.  Rufus  W.  Whiting,  who  now 
lives  in  Framingham,  also  went  into  the  business  at  an 
early  day,  but  in  1839  sold  out  to  George  N.  Fisher.  Mr. 
Whiting  was  afterward  in  the  business  for  many  years; 
and  Mr.  Fisher  has  continued  in  it  ever  since,  receiving 
his  milk,  until  a  few  months  ago,  from  Westborough  dai- 
ries. He  now  owns  a  route  in  Boston,  but  procures  his 
supply  from  C.  Brigham  &  Co. 

.  The  Westborough  Milk  Company,  which  was  organ- 
ized about  1840  by  John  A.  Fayerweather,  George  Denny, 
Abijah  Wood,  Elmer  Brigham,  and  Col.  Josiah  Brigham, 
did  a  large  business.  For  twenty-five  years,  S.  Deane 
Fisher  was  its  agent  in  Westborough.  About  1852,  the 
company's  business  passed  into  the  hands  of  George  O. 
Brigham,  who  had  been  its  Boston  agent,  and  Daniel 
and  Stephen  F.  Forbush.  It  was  afterwards  divided, 
and  was  eventually  absorbed  by  C.  Brigham  &  Co.  The 
Boston  Milk  Company,  which  was  formed  soon  after 
the  Westborough  Company,  was  composed  of  some  half- 
dozen  Boston  milk-dealers,  who  had  separate  routes,  but 
combined   in  bringing  their   milk   to   the   city.      Another 


yt/^C^  A^^^^^f*-'''*^ 


AGRICULTURE.  353 

company  was  the  Milk  Producers'  Association,  which  was 
organized  in  1865  by  farmers  who  were  dissatisfied  with 
the  contractors'  prices.  For  a  few  years  it  did  considera- 
ble business.  In  1866  it  built  the  "  Old  Cheese  Factory," 
as  it  was  formerly  called,  now  occupied  by  George  E. 
Fitch  &  Co.  for  a  beef  refrigerator,  and  for  a  short  time 
used  its  surplus  milk  for  making  butter  and  cheese.  The 
enterprise  was  on  a  co-operative  plan.  It  failed  to  be 
profitable,  and  in   1873  came  to  an  end. 

The  milk  business,  so  far  as  Westborough  is  concerned, 
is  now  almost  exclusively  in  the  hands  of  C.  Brigham  & 
Co.,  though  other  dealers  take  a  small  quantity.  This 
concern,  which  has  the  largest  milk  business  of  any  com- 
pany in  the  world,  amounting  to  more  than  a  million 
dollars  per  year,  was  organized  in  1859  t)y  Cyrus  Brig- 
ham,  a  native  of  Westborough,  and  VVhittemore  Rowell, 
for  many  years  a  resident.  One  car-load  of  milk  per  day 
was  at  first  sufficient  for  their  business ;  but  it  has  now 
become  so  extensive,  that  the  firm  receives  eight  car-loads 
each  day,  amounting  to  ten  thousand  cans.  About  seven 
hundred  cans  are  sent  from  Westborough.  This  quantity 
of  milk,  however,  is  not  all  provided  by  local  dairies,  for 
routes  from  Shrewsbury,  Grafton,  Upton,  and  Hopkinton 
help  to  fill  the  Westborough  car.  The  greatest  quantity 
of  milk  was  sent  about  ten  years  ago,  before  Northborough 
had  a  separate  car  for  producers  in  that  section.  Twenty- 
five  hundred  cans  per  day  were  then  frequently  supplied. 
The  present  daily  supply,  amounting  to  about  seven  hun- 
dred and  fifty  cans,  comes  from  one  hundred  and  fift}- 
dairies,  which  contribute  from  one  to  thirty  cans  each. 
The  contractors  now  take,  at  a  somewhat  lower  price 
than  when  the  supply  was  limited,  all  the  milk  which  the 
farmers  produce,  using  the  surplus  for  butter  and  cheese. 


354  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

In  the  method  of  shipment  and  of  distribution,  too,  the 
business  has  greatly  changed  during  the  last  few  years, 
and  it  is  now  managed  on  a  systematic  plan,  in  striking 
contrast  with  the  old  methods.  The  contractors  insist 
upon  a  good  quality  of  milk,  condemning  such  as  after 
a  careful  analysis  falls  below  a  certain  standard.  The 
prices  vary  from  twenty-one  to  twenty-five  cents  per  can 
in  summer,  and  from  twenty-seven  to  thirty-five  cents  in 
winter.  For  the  past  season  the  average  has  been  twenty- 
seven  cents  per  can.  In  years  gone  by,  the  prices  have 
fluctuated  considerably,  at  one  time,  about  1840,  being  as 
low  as  sixteen  cents  per  can,  and  at  another  time  as  high 
as  fifty  cents.  The  farmers  have  often  found  fault  with 
the  prices  offered,  and  have  tried  other  ways  for  disposing 
of  their  milk.  In  1885  they  formed  the  Westborough 
Creamery  Association,  having  a  capital  of  ^5,000,  and 
two  hundred  and  twelve  stockholders,  and  erected  the 
creamery  on  Fisher  Street;  but  the  venture  proved  un- 
profitable, and  the  farmers  are  once  more  sending  the 
usual  amount  of  milk  to  the  Boston  market. 

At  the  conclusion  of  this  review  of  the  agricultural  in- 
terests of  Westborough,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that  the 
town,  ranking  sixty-fourth  in  population,  stands  fiftieth 
among  the  towns  and  cities  of  Massachusetts  in  the  value 
of  agricultural  products.  It  is  situated  in  a  fertile  part 
of  Worcester  County,  which  rivals  Champlain  in  Illinois 
and  Lancaster  in  Pennsylvania  as  the  leading  agricul- 
tural county  in  the  United  States.  With  a  population 
of  244,039,  farm  property  amounting  to  ^39,353.725, 
and  847,280  acres  devoted  to  agriculture,  its  fifty-seven 
towns,  in  1885,  raised  agricultural  products  to  the  value 
of  $9,385,744,  the  proportion  of  products  to  property 
being  23.85  per  centum. 


MANUFACTURES. 


355 


The  position  of  Westborough  in  the  county  appears 
in  the  following  table,  which  shows  the  relative  standing, 
according  to  the  census  of  1885,  of  the  ten  leading 
agricultural  towns  and  cities :  — 


Population. 

Cultivated 
land,  acres. 

Total  agri- 
cultural 
products. 

Total  agricul- 
tural property. 

Percentage 
of  products 
of  property. 

Worcester, 

68,389 

7,114 

620,756 

2,677,579 

2315 

Fitchburg 

15.375 

3,676 

294,558 

1,304,227 

22.58 

Barre, 

2,093 

6,398 

289,738 

1,016,642 

28.50 

Charlton, 

1,823 

6,189 

265,657 

1,096,400 

24.23 

Sterling, 

1,331 

4,632 

229,860 

1,010,065 

22.76 

Harvard, 

1,184 

4.807 

229,533 

1,143,001 

20.08 

Southborough, 

2,100 

3.375 

220,904 

1.053,959 

20.96 

Westborough, 

4,S8o 

4,205 

218,508 

835,666 

26.15 

Grafton, 

4,49s 

4,267 

218,022 

882,985 

24.69 

Spencer, 

8,247 

4,463 

215,658 

928,635 

23.22 

The  agricultural  interests  of  Westborough,  as  regards 
both  the  number  of  persons  employed  and  the  value  of 
products,  long  since  yielded  the  first  place  to  manufac- 
tures. The  latter  had  established  a  foothold  early  in  the 
present  century.  During  the  Revolutionary  War  Eli 
Whitney,  who  afterward  achieved  renown  by  inventing 
the  cotton-gin,  did  a  small  but  profitable  business  making 
nails ;  and  even  earlier  than  this,  Gardner  Parker,  of  "  Par- 
ker's Folly"  fame,  was  making  clocks.  About  181 5  a 
man  named  Corbett,  who  lived  in  the  southern  part  of  the 
town,  near  the  present  residence  of  James  A.  Parker,  began 
to  make  axes.  Lavvson  Harrington,  who  succeeded  him 
in  183  I,  continued  the  business  until  1865.  At  Piccadilly 
Joshua  Mellen  and  his  son,  Joshua  N.  Mellen,  during  the 
early  part  of  the  century  carried  on  a  similar  occupation, 
—  making  hoes,  axes,  and  scythe-snares.  A  brass-worker, 
Ezra  Winslow  by  name,  some  sixty  years  ago  made  and 
repaired  brass  clocks  in  a  little  shop  on  Mount  Pleasant. 


356  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

Sleigh-making,  which  furnished  work  to  carpenters  and 
blacksmiths  during  the  dull  winter  seasons,  was  an  early 
occupation.  The  tanning  of  hides  was  a  former  industry. 
Isaac  Davis,  before  the  memory  of  men  now  living,  had  a 
tannery  in  the  meadow  south  of  Bela  J.  Stone's  residence 
on  the  Northborough  road.  Another  tannery,  near  the 
Witherby  place,  on  West  Main  Street,  was  carried  on  by 
Jonas  A,  Stone  from  1826  to  1854.  The  currying  of 
leather  also  became  an  important  business.  From  1849  to 
1874  Austin  Underwood  had  a  currier's  shop  in  the  rear 
of  Memorial  Cemetery;  but  this  industry,  like  tanning,  has 
now  disappeared.  About  1830  —  to  go  back  a  little  — 
Nathan  A.  Fisher  started  a  small  and  short-lived  thread- 
factory  at  Wessonville,  where  steam-power  was  used  for  the 
first  time  in  Westborough.  Between  1833  and  1840  Tris- 
tram Libby,  with  two  assistants,  made  piano  movements, 
in  Horatio  Warren's  old  sleigh-shop  on  South  Street,  for 
Timothy  Gilbert,  of  Boston,  a  somewhat  famous  manu- 
facturer. There  were  a  few  other  small  manufacturing 
ventures  during  the  period  at  which  we  have  glanced,  but 
those  already  mentioned  illustrate  their  nature  and  scope. 

The  earliest  event  of  much  importance  in  the  industrial 
development  of  Westborough  was  in  1828,  when  J.  B. 
Kimball  &  Co.  began  to  manufacture  boots  and  shoes  in 
a  little  shop  near  the  residence  of  the  late  James  M.  Kim- 
ball on  West  Main  Street.  In  1832  they  made  goods  to 
the  value  of  $25,000;  and  Jonas  Stone,  who  was  the  sec- 
ond to  enter  the  business,  did  nearly  half  as  much.  Five 
years  later,  when  the  first  statistics  of  industry  were  com- 
piled, the  manufacturing  interests  of  Westborough  made 
a  creditable  showing.  The  making  of  boots  and  shoes 
employed  four  hundred  persons,  and  the  value  of  goods 
produced  was  $148,774.40.     Leather  was  tanned  to  the 


STATISTICS   OF  MANUFACTURES. 


357 


value  of  $7,800.  Three  men  were  employed  in  making 
twenty-nine  hundred  and  forty  axes,  which  were  valued  at 
$2,870,  Sleighs  worth  $3,840  were  the  result  often  men's 
labors.  The  other  manufactured  products  reported  were 
twelve  hundred  straw  hats,  valued  at  $2,800;  chairs  and 
cabinet-ware,  valued  at  $1,500;  bricks,  valued  at  $1,160; 
harnesses,  valued  at  $517;  and  forty  ploughs,  valued  at 
$275.  This  was  in  1837.  The  growth  of  the  leading  in- 
dustries from  that  year  to  1885  is  shown  by  the  following 
table :  — 

Statistics  of  Manufactures. 


Boots  and  shoes, 

pairs 

Value 

Men  employed 
Women    " 
Capital  invested 

Straw   goods    (hats 
and  bonnets)    .... 

Value 

Men  employed 
Women    " 
Capital  invested 

Wagons  &  sleighs, 
Value 

Men  employed. . 
Capital  invested 

Hides,   tanned   and 

curried 

Value  of  leather 
Men  employed. . 
Capital  invested 


1837 


140,748 

5148,774 

360 

214 


1,200 

J2,800 


$3,840 

10 

S':,ooo 


3,300 
$7,800 

$800 


1845 


1855 


1865 


140,820  597,000  357,000 
$84  699  $421,000  $450,683 
200  400  2S6 

75  100  58 

$40,000 


3,000 

$1,500 


^     '5 
$1,000 


$15,000 


42,300 

$34,000 

17 

262 

$4,700 


250 

20I  22 

,000  $17,775 


2,300 

;4,925  $129,000 

2  3 

$500     $2,500 


17.245 

$77,000 

27 
$8,000 


1875 


1885 


'1,014    $585,600 
481  355 


74 
$150,000 


$1,112,020 

146 

278 

$337,000 


$73,900 

24 
$48,150 


45 
$201,560 


SI,0T3,2I2 


197 
398 


35 


The  manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes  has  undergone 
great  changes  since  J.  B.  Kimball  &  Co,  started  their  little 
shop.  The  first  step  toward  the  modern  industry  had 
been  taken  in   18 18,  when  Joseph  Walker,  a  ITopkinton 


3S8  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

man,  invented  the  process  of  pegging,  instead  of  sewing, 
bottoms;  but  for  many  years  afterward  ail  tlie  work 
continued  to  be  done  by  liand,  and  the  processes  were 
slow  and  toilsome.  The  cutting,  crimping,  and  treeing 
employed  the  few  men  in  the  shop ;  the  bottoming, 
siding,  and  binding  gave  employment  to  many  men  and 
women  outside.  The  small,  narrow  shops,  still  standing 
near  many  of  the  older  farm-houses,  are  relics  of  the  time 
when  machinery  was  little  used,  and  work  was  taken  out 
by  "  teams."  But  the  introduction  of  machinery,  in 
nearly  every  department  of  the  business,  has  now  brought 
all  the  processes  of  manufacture  under  one  roof. 

J.  B.  Kimball  &  Co.  were  among  the  first  in  adopting 
the  new  methods ;  but  in  spite  of  constant  improvements 
in  machinery,  their  facilities  failed  to  keep  pace  with  the 
growing  demand  for  their  goods.  Remaining  but  a  short 
time  in  their  original  shop,  they  moved  to  another  on  the 
Witherby  place,  nearer  the  village,  and  soon  afterward  built 
a  shop  nearly  opposite  the  Blake  place.  In  1836  their 
quarters  had  again  become  too  small  for  their  increasing 
business,  and  they  erected  a  brick  building,  now  known 
as  Cobb's  Block,  at  the  corner  of  Main  and  Milk  Streets. 
Here  they  continued  to  manufacture  until  i860,  when  the 
present  Kimball  factory  —  which  had  been  erected  in 
1848,  and  used  for  a  box-factory  by  George  Denny,  and 
afterward  for  a  chair-factory  by  R.  G.  Holmes  —  was 
fitted  up  for  their  use.  In  1866  the  building  connected 
with  the  "  old  steam-mill  "  was  erected,  and  the  concern 
occupied  the  whole  establishment  until  its  failure  in  1878. 
The  firm  of  J.  B.  Kimball  &  Co.  stood  high  in  the  esti- 
mation of  the  trade,  and  during  its  fifty  years  of  manufac- 
turing in  Westborough  did  a  large  business.  It  reached 
its   maximum    in    1868-69,  "^vhen  two    hundred  and  fifty 


MANUFACTURES.  359 

hands  were  employed,  and  the  daily  product  was  thirty- 
six  hundred  pairs  of  boots  and  shoes. 

The  second  to  enter  the  business  in  Westborough  was 
Jonas  Stone,  who  began  to  manufacture  soon  after  J.  B. 
Kimball  &  Co.,  in  a  small  shop  on  Mount  Pleasant.  His 
brother,  Thomas  Stone,  after  manufacturing  a  short  time 
in  the  David  Nourse  house  on  School  Street,  in  1839  built' 
a  shop  on  Cross  Street,  now  used  for  a  tenement-house. 
Moses  Newton,  who  with  George  B.  Brigham  occupied  a 
building  on  the  site  of  J.  S.  Nason  &  Co.'s  grain-store, 
was  an  early  manufacturer.  The  building,  that  was  moved 
away  to  make  room  for  Grand  Army  Block,  on  South 
Street,  was  occupied  as  a  boot-shop  before  the  war  by 
Willard  Bragg.  His  brother,  Urial  Bragg,  manufactured 
in  the  "  Old  Arcade."  Otis  Newton  was  connected  with 
the  business  for  nearly  forty  years  before  his  death  in 
1870.  From  1840  to  i860  Daniel  F.  Newton  did  an  ex- 
tensive business  in  the  old  shop  on  Cross  Street.  In  more 
recent  years  J.  H.  Pierce,  as  well  as  his  successors,  Griggs 
&  Jackson,  manufactured  in  Smith's  Block ;  and  George 
Forbes  was  engaged  in  manufacturing  at  various  times 
between  1857  and  1880.  An  old  factory  at  the  corner  of 
Cottage  and  Elm  Streets  was  occupied  by  C.  M.  Holmes 
&  Co.  several  years  before  its  destruction  by  fire,  April  15, 
1876.  The  factory  which  stood  at  the  corner  of  Milk  and 
Phillips  Streets,  originally  built  for  a  sleigh-shop  in  1869, 
was  occupied  by  Grain,  Rising,  &  Co.  from  1879  to  1881  ; 
and  by  George  B.  Brigham  &  Sons,  and  Smith,  Brown,  & 
Co.  from  1882  until  it  was  burned  in  1886.  In  the  old  Kim- 
ball factory  there  have  been  several  attempts  at  manufac- 
turing during  the  last  ten  years,  but  with  doubtful  success. 
Hunt  &  Kimball  purchased  the  buildings  and  machinery 
when  J.  B.  Kimball  &  Co.  gave  up  business  in   1879,  and 


360  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

manufactured  a  short  time  for  C.  B.  Lancaster,  of  Boston. 
Frederick  W,  Kimball  occupied  the  factory  at  different 
times  in  manufacturing  for  various  parties ;  Fogg,  Shaw, 
Thayer,  &  Co.  were  there  from  1883  to  1885  ;  H.  A.  Royce 
&  Co.  from  1885  to  1887;  and  Brooks  &  Wells  from  1887 
to  the  fall  of  1889.  The  shop,  which  is  now  owned  by  the 
Kimball  Factory  Association,  has  been  unoccupied  since 
the  latter  date.  A  stock  company  is  just  forming,  how- 
ever, to  resume  manufacturing  at  this  well-known  site. 

At  present  there  are  two  firms  manufacturing  boots  and 
shoes  in  Westborough,  —  George  B.  Brigham  &  Sons, 
and  Gould  &  Walker.  The  former  had  its  origin  in 
1858.  The  senior  partner,  George  B.  Brigham,  was  one  of 
the  first  to  enter  the  business  in  Westborough.  In  1838 
he  superintended  Thomas  Stone's  factory,  and  from  1840 
to  1844  manufactured  in  company  with  Moses  Newton. 
In  1850,  having  temporarily  abandoned  the  business,  he 
became  superintendent  of  Daniel  F.  Newton's  shop.  After 
eight  years'  service  in  this  position  he  bought  out  George 
Forbes,  —  who  then  occupied  the  old  Union  Block, —  and 
has  continued  a  leading  manufacturer  to  the  present  time. 
He  remained  in  Union  Block  four  years,  occupied  the 
Cross  Street  factory  two  years,  and  since  1864  —  with  the 
exception  of  three  years  in  the  Milk  Street  factory  and  a 
year  at  Southville,  while  his  factory  was  leased  to  Gould 
&  Walker  —  the  firms  of  which  he  has  been  the  head 
have  occupied  the  present  factory  on  Cottage  Street.  It 
has  meanwhile  been  enlarged  to  several  times  its  original 
size.  The  junior  members  of  the  present  firm  are  John  L. 
and  Horace  E.  Brigham,  sons  of  the  senior  partner.  The 
firm  employs  one  hundred  and  fifty  hands,  and  manufac- 
tures goods  (twenty-four  thousand  cases)  to  the  value  of 
about  $325,000  each  year. 


MANUFACTURES.  36 1 

The  other  firm,  Gould  &  Walker,  occupies  the  new  and 
commodious  factory  at  the  corner  of  Milk  and  Phillips 
Streets.  It  was  organized  in  November,  1883,  by  William 
R.  Gould  and  Melvin  H.  Walker,  both  of  whom  had  pre- 
viously manufactured  with  George  B.  Brigham.  From  the 
fall  of  1883  to  February,  1887,  when  they  moved  to  their 
present  quarters,  Gould  &  Walker  occupied  the  Brigham 
factory  on  Cottage  Street.  In  December,  1889,  Mr.  Gould, 
on  account  of  failing  health,  withdrew  from  the  firm,  and 
M.  V.  Dunning,  who  had  been  salesman,  became  a  partner. 
The  firm  employs  three  hundred  hands.  Its  annual  product 
is  about  thirty-five  thousand  cases,  valued  at  $500,000. 

The  manufacture  of  sleighs  is  another  Westborough 
industry  that  began  early  in  the  century.  The  first  to 
make  them  were  Nathaniel  Fisher,  a  painter,  and  Gardner 
Cloyes,  Levi  Bowman,  Noyes  Bryant,  James  Cochrane, 
Jonas  Longley,  and  Corning  Fairbanks,  carpenters  and 
wood-workers,  who  built  houses  in  summer  and  sleighs  in 
winter.  It  was  customary,  before  the  business  became  an 
independent  industry,  to  make  sleighs  on  a  co-operative 
plan.  The  carpenter,  after  spending  the  early  part  of  the 
winter  in  doing  the  wood-work,  would  send  his  lot  of 
sleighs  to  the  blacksmith  for  the  shoes  and  braces.  The 
blacksmith  was  entitled  to  a  portion,  generally  two  out  of 
five,  for  his  work  and  material ;  and  the  painter,  to  whom 
they  were  next  sent  for  the  finishing  touches,  would  re- 
ceive another  for  his  pay.  The  sleighs  having  in  this  way 
been  completed,  on  the  appearance  of  snow  strings  of  six 
or  eight,  drawn  by  a  single  horse,  would  be  sent  to  the 
various  markets,  —  Boston,  Providence,  Worcester,  Lowell, 
and  other  places.  The  number  of  sleighs  made  in  1832 
was  four  hundred,  and  their  value  was  about  $8,000.  The 
average  from  1870  to   1880  was  over  three  thousand  per 


362  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

year  ;  but  at  present,  owing  principally  to  the  unfavorable 
seasons,  the  number  is  much  less.  For  many  years  the 
quality  was  rather  poor,  but  answered  the  demand  for  a 
plain,  substantial,  inexpensive  sleigh.  In  recent  years, 
however,  it  has  greatly  improved,  and  "  Westborough 
sleighs,"  which  bring  from  twenty  to  sixty  dollars  each, 
according  to  the  style  of  finish  and  upholstering,  now 
stand  well  in  the  market. 

The  first  persons  to  make  a  special  business  of  sleigh- 
making  were  two  brothers,  Baxter  and  Daniel  W.  Forbes, 
who  built  a  shop  about  fifty  years  ago  in  the  forks  of 
the  road  near  the  "No.  4"  School-house.  During  their 
first  year  in  business  they  made  two  hundred  sleighs. 
In  1858  Albert  J.  Burnap  and  Edward  E.  Brigham,  both 
of  whom  had  been  engaged  in  the  business  several  years, 
became  partners  with  the  Forbes  brothers,  and  the  new 
firm  of  Burnap,  Forbes,  &  Co.  built  the  front  part  of 
the  present  shop  on  Summer  Street.  From  1865  to  1875 
Nahum  Fisher  and  Daniel  W.  Forbes  carried  on  the  busi- 
ness under  the  firm  name  of  Forbes  &  Fisher.  The 
present  firm  is  composed  of  Mr.  Forbes  and  his  son, 
Forrest  W.  Forbes,  who  manufacture  under  the  name  of 
D.  W.  Forbes  &  Son.  They  are  said  to  be  the  oldest 
sleigh  manufacturers  in  the  United  States.  In  ordinary 
seasons  their  product  is  about  twelve  hundred  sleighs, 
which  find  a  ready  sale,  mostly  in  the  West. 

W.  H.  &  F.  Sibley,  who  make  about  three  hundred 
sleighs  per  year,  have  occupied  their  present  shop  on 
Parkman  Street  since  1844.  For  many  years  they  paid 
special  attention  to  making  and  repairing  wagons,  and  did 
very  little  sleigh-making  until  after  the  war.  They  now 
have  a  large  jobbing  business,  and  in  addition  to  sleighs 
continue  to  make  wagon.s. 


MANUFACTURES.  363 

At  Piccadilly  Corning  Fairbanks,  one  of  the  earliest 
sleigh-makers,  carried  on  the  business  until  his  death  in 
1887.  His  son,  Benjamin  N.  Fairbanks,  succeeded  him, 
and  makes  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  sleighs  per  year. 

John  O'Brien  2d,  who  has  a  shop  in  the  rear  of  Guild's 
stable,  has  been  engaged  in  sleigh-making  since  1864, 
and  makes  about  the  same  number  as  Mr.  Fairbanks. 

Patrick  Maguire,  on  Summer  Street,  began  to  make 
sleighs  in  1883.     He  makes  about  one  hundred  per  year. 

The  individuals  and  firms  who  have  in  years  past  made 
sleighs  in  Westborough  are  numerous.  In  1871  there 
were  nine  manufacturers.  Bacon  &  Williams,  who  occupied 
the  shop  at  the  corner  of  Milk  and  Phillips  Streets  from 
1869  to  1873,  made  nine  hundred  and  fifty  sleighs,  besides 
doing  a  large  box  business.  W.  H.  &  F.  Sibley  made 
two  hundred  and  fifty,  and  the  remaining  firms  between 
one  hundred  and  one  hundred  and  fifty  each.  Among 
the  more  prominent  sleigh-makers  not  already  mentioned 
have  been  Edward  Spaulding,  Joseph  H.  Fairbanks,  Frank 
Brigham,  and  Wilder  F.  Brown. 

The  manufacture  of  straw  hats  and  bonnets,  at  present 
Westborough's  most  important  industry,  was  established 
in  1863.  The  braiding  of  straw,  however,  and  the  sewing 
of  hats  from  domestic  braid  were  early  and  common  oc- 
cupations for  women  and  children.  The  winter  rye  was 
cut  in  June,  the  straw  was  scalded  and  cured,  the  part 
within  the  sheath  was  whitened  by  brimstone  fumes,  and 
after  being  split  was  ready  for  braiding.  Country  trades- 
men took  the  braid,  and  sometimes  the  home-made  hats, 
in  exchange  for  goods.  There  was  a  cash  price  and  a 
straw  price  for  their  various  commodities,  —  the  former, 
of  course,  being  somewhat  lower  than  the  latter.  The  im- 
portation of  braid  from  China,  Italy,  and  other  countries 


364  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

long  since  put  an  end  to  the  home  production;  and  the 
invention  of  a  machine  for  sewing  braid,  some  twenty 
years  ago,  gave  the  death-blow  to  another  common  house- 
hold industry,  —  the  sewing  of  hats  by  hand.  A  Con- 
necticut inventor,  named  Baldwin,  introduced  the  first 
machine;  and  soon  afterward  Samuel  S.  Turner,  a  West- 
borough  man,  brought  out  the  "  American  "  straw  sewing- 
machine,  which,  although  now  superseded  like  the  others 
by  the  Wilcox  &  Gibbs,  was  used  for  several  years.  One 
of  the  machines  now  in  use  does  the  work  of  about  thirty 
sewers  under  the  old  system.  In  other  departments  of  the 
business,  too,  great  improvements  in  the  process  of  manu- 
facture have  taken  place.  As  in  so  many  other  industries, 
the  result  has  been  an  enormous  increase  in  the  quantity  of 
goods  produced,  and  a  great  reduction  in  their  cost. 

The  industry,  which  was  for  a  long  time  confined  to 
this  part  of  Massachusetts,  began  in  the  adjoining  town 
of  Upton  as  early  as  1825.  A  large  number  of  sewers 
were  required ;  and  for  many  years  before  the  business 
was  established  in  Westborough,  "  stock-carts  "  brought 
braid  from  Knowlton's  shop  in  Upton  to  be  sewed  into 
hats  by  women  in  this  town.  The  manufacture  was  begun 
here  in  1863  by  Bates,  Parker,  &  Co.,  who  occupied  an 
old  boot-shop  standing  on  the  site,  and  forming  part,  of 
L.  R.  Bates's  present  factory.  During  the  first  season  the 
firm  employed  twelve  men  and  thirty  girls  in  the  shop, 
and  two  hundred  and  fifty  sewers  outside.  In  1870  the 
junior  partner,  James  E.  Parker,  withdrew  from  the  firm, 
and  the  senior  partner,  L.  R.  Bates,  manufactured  alone 
until  1875.  During  the  two  following  years  Theodore  B. 
Smart,  at  present  a  manufacturer  at  Stamford,  Conn.,  was 
a  partner,  and  from  1877  to  1885  Mr.  Bates  was  again 
alone.     From  1885  to  1888  the  firm  was  Bates,  Wightman, 


MANUFACTURES.  365 

&  Beaman;  and  from  July,  1888,  to  July,  1890,  Mr.  Bates, 
of  the  original  firm,  and  Willard  W.  Beaman  carried  on  the 
business  under  the  name  of  Bates  &  Beaman.  Mr.  Bates 
now  manufactures  alone.  His  factory  on  South  Street  has 
undergone  many  alterations,  having  been  enlarged  in  1866, 
and  afterward  in  1875  and  in  1876.  Before  the  introduc- 
tion of  machinery  the  business  employed  seven  hundred 
sewers  in  Westborough  and  the  neighboring  towns.  At 
present  seventy  operatives  and  machines  much  more  than 
supply  their  place.  One  hundred  and  twenty-five  hands 
are  employed,  and  goods  are  manufactured  to  the  value 
of  about  $125, coo  each  year. 

The  second  straw-shop  was  started  in  1864.  Chauncy 
Mitchell,  who  had  previously  done  a  small  business  mak- 
ing "  Shaker  "  hoods,  began  to  make  straw  hats  in  the  old 
shop  on  Cross  Street.  A  year  later  George  N.  Smalley 
became  a  partner.  In  1866  the  present  Union  Building 
on  South  Street  was  fitted  up  for  another  straw-factory, 
and  occupied  for  two  years  by  Snow  &  Fellows.  In 
1870  A.  J.  Snow,  who  owned  the  shop,  formed  a  partner- 
ship with  Jeremiah  Hewins,  and  the  new  firm  continued 
to  make  straw  goods  until   1872. 

Mr.  Mitchell  became  insolvent,  and  ceased  to  manufac- 
ture, in  1868.  In  that  year  Mr.  Smalley  had  withdrawn 
from  the  firm,  and  after  manufacturing  a  short  time  with 
Willard  Comey,  entered  into  partnership  with  Henry  O. 
Bernard,  a  New  York  salesman.  The  new  firm,  under  the 
name  of  H.  O.  Bernard  &  Co.,  began  business  in  a  shop  on 
Cottage  Street.  It  soon  proved  to  be  inadequate  for  their 
growing  trade,  and  in  the  winter  of  1870  the  main  building 
of  H.  O.  Bernard's  present  factory  was  erected.  During 
the  following  season  the  firm  employed  eighteen  hundred 
hands,  and  their  sales  amounted  to  $6oo,oco.    In  1873  their 


366  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

factory,  by  the  addition  of  wings,  was  enlarged  to  nearly 
double  its  former  capacity;  and  in  1878  the  brick  building 
connected  with  the  old  factory  was  erected.  Mr.  Smalley 
withdrew  from  the  firm  in  1875,  but  had  charge  of  the 
manufacturing  for  several  years  afterward.  In  October, 
1885,  the  concern  was  reorganized,  and  incorporated  under 
the  laws  of  New  York  as  the  H.  O.  Bernard  Manufacturing 
Company,  Its  capital  is  $200,000.  H.  O.  Bernard  has 
been  president  of  the  company  from  the  beginning.  H.  K. 
Taft  was  vice-president,  and  had  charge  of  the  manufac- 
turing, until  his  death  in  May,  1887.  The  present  vice- 
president  is  Paul  D.  Bernard.  F.  W.  Patterson  is  secretary 
and  treasurer.  The  company,  which  has  one  of  the 
largest  and  best-equipped  straw-factories  in  the  world, 
does  a  business  of  over  a  million  dollars  per  year.  It 
employs  between  eight  and  nine  hundred  hands. 

It  will  be  remembered,  from  the  statistics  of  1837,  ^^^^ 
bricks  were  then  manufactured  in  Westborough  to  the 
value  of  $1,160.  They  were  made  at  the  brick-yard  now 
owned  by  Stephen  A.  Gilmore,  which  had  just  been  started 
by  Abijah  Wood.  Work  was  carried  on  at  intervals  until 
1869,  when  the  yard  was  leased  for  the  purpose  of  making 
brick  to  build  Post-Office  Block.  The  business  has  since 
been  conducted  more  regularly  by  the  Gilmores,  who  have 
made  from  one  million  and  a  half  to  two  million  bricks 
per  year,  and  employed  from  twenty  to  thirty  men. 

The  box-factory  and  lumber-yard  of  C.  Whitney  &  Co., 
where  fifteen  men  are  now  employed,  was  started  by  Mr. 
Whitney  in  1873.  The  first  location  was  on  the  site  of 
the  Whitney  House ;  but  in  1875  a  box-shop  was  erected 
near  the  present  one.  Frank  V.  Bartlett  and  George  L. 
Smith,  who  became  members  of  the  firm  in  1883,  have  car- 
ried on  the  business  since  Mr.  Whitney's  death  in  1889. 


MANUFACTURES.  367 

The  firm  handles  each  year  three  million  feet  of  box 
boards,  and  a  million  feet  of  building  lumber. 

The  straw  sewing-machine  invented  by  S.  S.  Turner  led, 
in  1869,  to  the  incorporation  of  a  company  with  capital  of 
$300,000.  Mr.  Turner  and  Willard  Comey  were  the  West- 
borough  men  prominent  in  the  enterprise.  In  1871  the  com- 
pany built  the  shop  near  the  railroad  at  the  head  of  Summer 
Street,  and  manufactured  for  a  short  time.  The  invention 
of  a  superior  machine  put  an  end  to  the  business. 

An  industry  which  still  exists,  but  was  formerly  more 
flourishing,  is  the  manufacture  of  trellises.  Benjamin  B. 
Nourse  began  the  business  about  twenty-five  years  ago. 
His  shop  was  over  D.  S.  Dunlap  &  Son's  present  store. 
George  K.  White  became  a  partner  in  1866,  and  the  firm 
of  Nourse,  White,  &  Co.  continued  the  industry.  In  1870, 
their  business  having  outgrown  the  old  shop,  Mr.  Nourse's 
present  shop  on  Summer  Street  was  erected.  In  1871  the 
firm  employed  fifteen  men.  Their  specialties  were  Nourse's 
Folding  Plant  Stand  and  Wardian  Flower  Cases,  which  in 
1870  were  awarded  high  honor  at  the  Cincinnati  Indus- 
trial Exposition.  The  business  is  now  carried  on  at  Mr. 
Nourse's  shop  by  P.  A.  Angier  &  Co. 

The  manufacture  of  bicycles  was  begun  in  the  spring  of 
1889.  The  White  Cycle  Company,  incorporated  under 
the  laws  of  Maine,  with  a  capital  of  $150,000,  has  a  large 
number  of  Westborough  citizens  among  its  stockholders. 
It  has  a  new  and  excellent  shop  on  Beach  Street,  where 
ninety  men  are  now  employed.  The  president  of  the  com- 
pany, and  inventor  of  the  "  Broncho  "  bicycle,  is  Frederick 
White.  The  other  ofificers  are  Frank  F.  Denfeld,  vice- 
president;  George  O.  Brigham,  treasurer;  Frank  E.  Peck, 
secretary ;  Frederick  White,  Frank  E.  Peck,  Frank  F.  Den- 
feld, Frank  W.  Forbes,  Emerson  Law,  William  A.  Reed, 


368 


LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH, 


and  Murray  V.  Livingston,  directors.  At  present  the 
company's  works  are  leased  to  Murray  V.  Livingston,  of 
Boston.  The  "Broncho"  is  a  chainless  "safety"  bicycle, 
and  its  ingenious  construction  has  won  high  praise  from 
both  EngUsh  and  American  wheelmen. 

Since  December,  1889,  the  old  sleigh-shop  at  the  head 
of  Summer  Street  has  been  converted  into  a  factory  for 
the  manufacture  of  pianos.  It  is  occupied  by  the  Leicester 
Piano  Company,  which  was  incorporated  under  the  laws  of 
Michigan  in  1880.  Its  capital  stock  is  $150,000.  The 
officers  of  the  company  are  G.  V.  Leicester,  president; 
W.  W.  Johnson,  vice-president;  J.  A.  Trowbridge,  trea- 
surer; and  William  J.  Gray,  secretary  and  assistant  trea- 
surer.    The  business  at  present  employs  fifteen  men. 

The  total  value  of  Westborough's  manufactured  prod- 
ucts in  1885  was  $2,004,887.  Ranking  sixty-fourth  among 
the  towns  and  cities  of  Massachusetts  in  population,  and 
fiftieth  in  the  value  of  agricultural  products,  this  town 
stood  sixty-second  in  the  value  of  manufactured  goods. 
The  following  table  shows  its  standing  among  the  ten 
principal  manufacturing  towns  and  cities  of  Worcester 
County :  — 


Number  of 
Establish- 
ments. 

Amount  of 
Capital 
invested. 

Value  of 
Stock  used. 

Value  of 

Goods  made 

and  Work 

done. 

Number  of 
Persons 
employed. 

Total 
Wages 
paid. 

$ 

$ 

$ 

$ 

Worcester 

772 

18,344,408 

15,016,756 

28,699,524 

18,454 

7,060,75s 

Fitchburg 

202 

5.477,446 

3.658,502 

6,231,866 

3396 

1,271,329 

Spencer 

84 

1,580,794 

2,422,788 

3,627,467 

2,234 

694,908 

Clinton 

93 

5.547. MS 

1.949,713 

3.624.663 

3,308 

1,070,933 

Blackstone 

31 

2.052,565 

2,361,676 

3,422,522 

1,930 

690,700 

Webster 

52 

1 ,408,628 

2,122,413 

2,888,063 

1,718 

484,203 

Milford 

n6 

1,143,534 

1,213,693 

2,289,030 

1,882 

599,852 

Gardner 

68 

2,487,051 

914,005 

2,046,343 

2,009 

707.145 

Westborough 

53 

874,63s 

1-355.337 

2,004,887 

1,827 

474,345 

Southbridge 

74 

2,61 5,056 

1,061,416 

1,968,107 

1.956 

626,655 

OCCUPATIONS. 


369 


This  review  of  Westborough  industries  roughly  indicates 
the  occupations  of  the  people.  A  more  exact  classification, 
given  in  the  census  of  1885,  is  as  follows:  — 


Population  of  Westborough,  May  i,  1885, — 4,880. 
Occupations. 


Males,  2,299. 

Clergymen 12 

Merchants  and  Dealers 54 

Bookkeepers  and  Clerks 57 

Teamsters 23 

Steam  Railroad  Employees  ...  17 

Farmers 1 36 

Farm  Laborers 202 

Boot  and  Shoe  makers 355 

Box-makers 22 

Carpenters    47 

Masons 19 

Painters 13 

Carriage-makers 17 

Sleigh-makers    18 

Blacksmiths   15 

Straw-workers  197 


Scholars  and  Students 

Retired    

At  home    

Other  occupations  . . . . 


Females,  2,581. 

Teachers 

Housewives    

Housework 

Servants  (in  families)  ... 
Boot  and  Shoe  makers  . . 

Dress-makers 

Milliners 

Straw-workers 

Scholars 

At  home    

Other  Occupations 


464 

46 

238 

347 


27 
931 
346 
103 

45 

6 

8 

398 

395 

240 

82 


It  is  hardly  possible  to  estimate  the  increase  of  wealth 
which  has  accompanied  Westbo rough's  industrial  develop- 
ment. Throughout  the  world  the  last  century  has  seen  a 
marvellous  improvement  in  the  comforts  of  life;  and  in 
this  general  advance,  it  is  safe  to  say,  the  people  of  West- 
borough have  enjoyed  and  performed  their  share.  The 
town  contains  no  persons  of  great  wealth ;  but  there  is,  on 
the  other  hand,  very  little  poverty.  The  diffusion  of  pros- 
perity is  unusually  uniform.  Although  this  prosperity  is 
beyond  our  means  of  measuring,  the  assessors'  reports 
furnish  some  interesting  and  suggestive  comparisons.  At 
three  different  periods,  for  example,  the  residents  paying 
the  highest  taxes,  and  the  amounts  they  paid,  were  as 
follows :  — 


370  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


In   1S30. 


Charles  Parkman $72.44 

Benjamin  Fay,  Jr 44-iS 


Heirs  of  John  Sanborn  ....    $2909 
Benjamin  Fay 27.42 


Elijah  Gleason 30.28      Asahel  Warren 25.55 


In  1S60. 


Daniel  F.  Newton $108.95 

Estate  of  George  Denny ....       90.09 
Zebina  Gleason    89.99 


Curtis  Beeman $77-25 

J.  W.  Blake 75.89 

Timothy  A.  Smith 7277 


In  i8qo. 


H.  O.  Bernard  MTg  Co.  . . .  $944.36 
Mrs.  Abbie  Whitney,  adm'x..  761.84 
John  A.  Fayerweather 595-50 


Gould  &  Walker $518.10 

Hannah  Spaulding 487.59 

Estate  of  William  R.  Gouid,     4S2.86 


The  amounts  raised  by  taxation  at  these  different  peri- 
ods were  as  follows :  — 

1830. 

State  tax,  $129  ;  county  tax,  $269.82  ;  highways,  $600  ;  schools, 
$600;  support  of  poor,  ^900;  contingencies,  $275.  Total, 
$2,773.82. 

i860. 

State  tax,  $350;  county  tax,  $1,275.56;  highways,  $1,200; 
schools,  $2,600;  support  of  poor,  $1,400;  contingencies,  $1,200; 
reducing  town  debt,  $2,050  ;  overlayings  on  taxes,  $333.25.  Total, 
$10,408.81. 

1890. 

State  tax,  $2,292.50;  county  tax,  $1,885;  highways,  $3,500; 
schools,  $1 2,500  ;  support  of  poor,  $3, 700 ;  contingencies,  $1,000  ; 
reducing  town  debt,  $3,000;  overlayings  on  taxes,  $636.51;  ob- 
servance of  Memorial  Day,  $150;  interest  of  town  debt,  $1,950; 
cemeteries,  $500 ;  school-house  sinking  fund,  $800  ;  water  sinking 
fund,  $2,000;  engine-house  sinking  fund,  $1,040;  fire  department, 
$2,300;  salaries  of  officers,  $1,575  ;  police,  including  night-watch, 
$850;  interest  in  anticipation  of  taxes,  $500;  concrete  sidewalks, 
$500  ;  judgments  against  town,  $2,300 ;  lighting  streets  and  town 
house,  $2,500;  new  bridge,  $1,080.     Total,  $46,479.01. 


POLLS   AND   PROPERTY. 


371 


The  following  table,  compiled  from  the  assessors'  re- 
ports, indicates  the  changes  in  certain  kinds  of  property, 
etc.,  since  i860  :  — 


Year. 

Number 
of  Polls. 

Houses. 

Horses. 

Oxen. 

Cows. 

Rate  of 
Taxation. 

Taxable 
Property. 

i860 
1865 
1870 
1875 
1880 
18S5 
1890 

647 

735 
862 
1,169 
1,204 
1,202 
1.389 

447 
517 
658 
717 
786 
805 

322 
356 
465 
514 
477 
510 

"96 
30 

'887 
1,040 

998 

1,126 

971 
1,231 

$7.80 
16.15 
13.00 
16.50 
13.00 
14.20 
1570 

$1,210,022 
1,392,478 
1,916,041 
2,450,658 
2,357,183 
2,552,487 

2,783,504 

CHAPTER   V. 

1860-1890. 

PUBLIC    SCHOOLS.  —  WILLOW-PARK    SEMINARY.  —  PUBLIC 
LIBRARY.  —  POOR-FARM.  —  FIRE   DEPARTMENT. 

THE  evolution  of  the  public  schools  from  the  district 
system  to  the  well-organized  graded  schools  of  the 
present  time  has  nearly  all  taken  place  during  the  past 
thirty  years.  The  "  three  R's,"  which  were  deemed  suffi- 
cient for  the  average  man  or  woman  a  generation  ago, 
have  given  place  to  a  broader  and  more  thorough  educa- 
tional training.  The  old  school-houses,  with  their  rude 
benches  and  rough  walls,  are  supplanted  by  well-built 
structures,  heated,  lighted,  and  ventilated  after  the  most 
approved  sanitary  arrangements.  The  methods,  too,  have 
changed.  The  schoolmaster,  with  his  birch  and  ferrule, 
is  no  longer  the  typical  pedagogue ;  for  the  gentle 
"  schoolma'm,"  prepared  for  her  duties  by  special  train- 
ing, has  effectually  usurped  his  place.  Under  the  old 
system  of  school  management  the  town  annually  chose 
its  general  school-committee,  consisting  usually  of  three 
persons,  who  examined  and  "  approbated "  the  teachers, 
selected  the  text-books,  and  made  periodical  visits  to  the 
several  schools.  In  each  district  the  "  prudential "  com- 
mittee —  usually  one  man,  chosen  by  the  voters  of  the  dis- 
trict —  had  charge  of  the  school  so  far  as  to  provide  it 


PUBLIC   SCHOOLS.  373 

with  fuel,  and,  with  the  approval  of  the  town-committee, 
to  select  a  teacher.  The  district  system  was  hardly  the 
most  economical  or  the  most  valuable ;  but  it  was  not 
until  the  March  meeting  in  1867  that  the  "prudential" 
committee  was  abolished,  and  the  general  committee  given 
complete  authority  over  all  the  schools.  The  duty  of  car- 
ing for  so  many  districts,  however,  soon  proved  burden- 
some, and  in  1873,  in  accordance  with  the  committee's 
frequent  recommendations,  the  town  voted  to  employ  a 
superintendent.  T.  Dwight  Biscoe,  the  first  superintend- 
ent of  schools,  was  appointed  in  March,  1873.  He  re- 
signed in  September,  1874,  and  John  E.  Day,  who  had 
been  for  three  years  principal  of  the  High  School,  took 
his  place.  On  Mr.  Day's  resignation,  in  1875,  Henry 
Whittemore,  who  had  succeeded  him  as  principal  of  the 
High  School,  assumed  the  superintendence  as  well.  He 
successfully  performed  the  duties  of  both  positions  until,  in 
the  fall  of  1883,  he  resigned,  to  become  superintendent  of 
schools  at  Waltham.  James  Burrier  was  his  successor. 
Since  the  expiration  of  his  term,  November  30,  1885,  Dr. 
Edwin  B.  Harvey,  who  has  been  prominently  connected 
with  the  schools  for  more  than  twenty  years,  has  performed 
the  duties  of  superintendent. 

The  present  division  of  the  town  into  eight  districts  has 
been  only  slightly  changed  since  1836.  At  that  time  one 
school,  in  the  building  now  occupied  by  D.  S.  Dunlap  &  Son, 
accommodated  all  the  pupils  in  the  centre  of  the  town. 
In  i860,  besides  an  ungraded  High  School  established 
six  years  before,  there  were  four  "  departments "  in  the 
"  centre  district,"  occupying  the  two  school-houses  on 
Grove  Street.  A  grammar-school  was  established  in  1865. 
In  1868  a  new  school-house  —  the  fourth  in  the  centre  of 


374  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

the  town  —  was  erected  on  High  Street.  It  was  burned, 
May  II,  1872,  and  the  present  building  was  soon  afterward 
erected  on  the  site.  During  the  same  year  a  French  roof 
was  added  to  the  older  Grove  Street  school-house,  and  the 
High  School  building  was  considerably  enlarged.  The 
second  school-house  on  School  Street  was  erected  in  1876, 
and  the  Phillips  Street  school-house  in  1883.  The  latter 
was  built  from  plans  made  by  Dr.  Harvey,  the  chairman 
of  the  school-committee,  who  supervised  the  work  of  its 
construction.  It  cost  about  $ii,000.  The  building  is 
built  of  brick,  is  steam-heated,  and  contains  accommoda- 
tions for  four  schools  of  fifty  pupils  each.  It  has  a  front 
entrance  and  halls  for  girls,  and  two  side  entrances  and 
halls  for  boys.  The  school-rooms,  which  are  all  on  the 
ground-floor,  are  large  and  well  furnished.  In  the  base- 
ment are  two  large  exercise  or  play  rooms,  one  for  the 
boys,  and  one  for  the  girls.  The  building  is  considered 
a  model  school-house. 

In  1 87 1  the  town  tried  the  experiment  of  supporting  an 
evening  school  for  the  instruction  of  persons  over  fifteen 
years  of  age.  It  opened  in  March,  and  continued,  three 
evenings  a  week,  for  ten  weeks.  Over  fifty  persons  regis- 
tered as  pupils,  but  the  average  attendance  was  less  than 
twenty-five.  The  second  term,  which  began  in  December, 
was  discontinued  after  eighteen  evenings.  "  The  attend- 
ance was  very  irregular,"  the  committee  reported,  "  and  a 
great  majority  of  those  who  did  attend,  evidently  came  for 
purposes  other  than  to  study  and  to  profit  by  the  privi- 
leges of  the  school." 

The  following  table,  which  is  compiled  from  the  annual 
reports  of  the  school-committee,  shows  the  growth  of  the 
schools  since  i860:' — 


PUBLIC   SCHOOLS. 


375 


1860 

1865 

1870 

1875 

1880 

1885 

1889 

Number   of  Children    be- 

tween ages  of  5  and  15. 

490 

S76 

681 

730 

«37 

84s 

839 

Number  of  Schools 

12 

13 

15 

16 

18 

21 

20 

Number  of  Teachers 

12 

14 

16 

17 

20 

23 

23 

Number  of  Weeks  taught, 

in  Common  Schools  . 

29 

'36 

30 

32 

32-36 

34 

37 

in  Grammar  School , . 

3t> 

39 

39 

39 

40 

40 

in  High  School 

31 

40 

39 

39 

39 

40 

40 

Appropriation  for  Schools 

$2,600 

$3,000 

*5.«35 

$7, 2  7  5,  $8,000 

$13,000 

$12,800 

The  High  School  was  estabhshed  in  1854.  At  the 
March  meeting  in  1853  the  town  voted  in  its  favor,  and 
Draper  Ruggles  offered  to  give  an  acre  of  land  upon 
which  to  erect  a  building.  The  town  accepted  the  gift 
with  due  gratitude,  and  had  the  rear  portion  of  the  pres- 
ent High  School-house  ready  for  use  the  following  year. 
The  only  facilities  in  the  village  for  advanced  instruction 
up  to  this  time  had  been  afforded  by  private  schools  in 
the  old  "Armory"  building  —  where  Grand  Army  Block 
now  stands  —  and  in  the  Town  Hall.  The  new  school, 
which  was  ungraded,  differed  from  the  other  public  schools 
only  in  teaching  higher  branches.  The  number  of  pupils 
during  the  first  term  was  fifty-nine.  The  studies  pursued 
were  "  grammar,  geography,  book-keeping,  mental  phi- 
losophy, natural  philosophy,  chemistry,  ph3^siology,  im- 
provement of  the  mind,  rhetoric,  astronomy,  arithmetic, 
algebra,  geometry,  trigonometry,  surveying,  history,  Latin, 
Greek,  composition,  and  declamation,  —  in  all  which 
branches,"  the  committee  reported,  "  very  good  profi- 
ciency has  been  made."  The  man  who  taught  these 
numerous  studies,  on  a  salary  of  $600  per  year,  was  Silas 
C.  Stone.  It  is  pleasant  to  note  that  his  salary  was  raised 
a  hundred  dollars  in  1855.  Mr.  Stone  remained  until  i86r, 
when  he  closed,  in  the  words  of  the  committee,  "  his  long 


376  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

and  successful  labors  as  principal."  The  two  young  men 
who  came  after  him,  each  remaining  a  few  months,  failed 
to  maintain  good  order;  and  in  the  winter  of  i86i  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Arnold,  a  member  of  the  school-committee,  took 
charge  of  the  school  with  gratifying  results.  Andrew  J. 
Lathrop  —  with  a  salary  of  $500  from  the  town  and  $100 
from  private  subscriptions  —  had  charge  of  the  school 
from  the  spring  of  1862  until  he  obtained  a  more  lucra- 
tive position,  in  March,  1863,  L.  S.  Burbank,  E.  P.  Jack- 
son, and  W.  J.  Holland  each  occupied  the  position  for  two 
or  three  years.  In  1871  John  E.  Day  became  principal  at 
a  salary  of  $1200  per  year,  and  retained  the  position  until 
he  became  superintendent  of  schools  in  1874. 

During  1869  and  1870  the  High  School  underwent  a 
great  change.  "  From  an  ungraded  school  of  less  than 
thirty  scholars,  irregular  in  attendance,  not  adhering  to- 
gether in  classes,"  said  the  committee  in  their  report  for 
1 87 1,  "it  has  become  a  school  of  nearly  fifty  pupils,  organ- 
ized into  classes  or  forms,  pursuing  a  prescribed  course  of 
study,  either  English  or  classical,  possessed  of  scholarly 
ambition,  and  occupying  the  time  and  skill  of  two  liberally 
educated  teachers,  —  in  a  word,  it  has  been  wrought  into 
a  High  School  that  will  compare  favorably  with  other 
schools  of  corresponding  grade  in  this  Commonwealth." 
The  first  class  graduated,  containing  three  members,  was 
in  1872.  In  1874  Henry  Whittemore,  who  remained  at 
the  head  of  the  school  for  nine  years,  succeeded  Mr.  Day 
as  principal.  Miss  Jennie  J.  Robinson,  who  had  been  an 
assistant-teacher,  after  his  resignation  had  charge  of  the 
school  for  a  short  time.  In  December,  1883,  James  Bur- 
rier  was  elected  to  the  principalship,  E.  H.  McLachlin 
succeeded  him  in  1884,  and  in  1889  resigned  to  become 
principal  of  the  Brattleborough  (Vt.)  High  School.     The 


^''f^^ 


X 

I— I 

o 

w 
o 
X 
o 
o 


PRIVATE   SCHOOLS.  377 

present  principal  is  A.  W.  Thayer,  There  are  two  assist- 
ant-teachers. The  whole  number  of  pupils  during  the  past 
year  (1889)  has  been  sixty-eight.  Twenty-seven  were  in 
the  English  department,  and  forty  one  in  the  classical. 

The  number  of  graduates  of  the  High  School  from 
1872  to  the  present  time  is  one  hundred  and  sixty-two, — 
eighty-seven  young  women,  and  seventy-five  young  men. 
The  number  graduated  at  the  school,  however,  is  no  test 
of  its  usefulness,  for  hundreds  who  have  not  completed  the 
course  have  enjoyed  its  benefits  for  a  longer  or  shorter 
time.  More  than  half  of  the  graduates  have  continued 
their  education  at  higher  institutions.  Twenty-seven  have 
graduated  from  college,  —  eleven  from  Amherst,  seven 
from  Brown,  five  from  VVellesley,  two  from  Harvard,  one 
from  the  Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute,  and  one  from 
the  Massachusetts  Agricultural  College  at  Amherst. 

Among  the  private  schools  in  Westborough,  the  two 
which  were  at  Wessonville  —  Wessonville  Seminary  and 
Willow-Park  Seminary  —  have  been  the  most  prominent. 
The  former,  a  day  and  boarding  school,  with  about  forty 
pupils,  was  established  in  Captain  Wesson's  old  tavern 
soon  after  1840.  A  school  under  the  same  manage- 
ment—  the  Westborough  School  Association  —  had  pre- 
viously been  maintained  in  the  village.  The  seminary 
at  Wessonville  lasted  about  twelve  years.  In  1852  Dr. 
Butler  Wilmarth  and  Dr.  J.  H.  Hero  purchased  the 
old  tavern  and  converted  it  into  an  institution  for  the 
treatment  of  chronic  diseases.  Dr.  Wilmarth  was  killed 
soon  afterward  in  a  railroad  accident,  but  Dr.  Hero  con- 
tinued to  carry  on  the  establishment.  Among  the  numer- 
ous improvements  which  he  made  was  the  filling  of  a 
swampy  triangle  south  of  the  building,  where  he  planted 
a  heart-shaped  grove  of  willow  and  maple  trees.    An  icy 


378  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

season  some  fifteen  years  later  destroyed  the  willows ;  but 
the  name  of  "  Willow  Park "  still  clings  to  the  locality. 
Besides  the  usual  hydropathic  treatment  which  marked 
the  institution  as  a  "  water  cure,"  Dr.  Hero  employed 
other  agents,  —  such  as  electricity,  Swedish  movements, 
oxygenized  air,  light  gymnastics,  and  finally  the  Turkish, 
or  hot-air  baths,  —  by  which  many  forms  of  chronic  dis- 
ease were  treated  with  marked  success.  In  1866  and  1867 
further  changes  and  extensions  in  the  buildings  were  made, 
and  in  the  fall  of  1867  Dr.  Hero  opened  the  Willow-Park 
Seminary,  —  an  institution  for  both  the  physical  and  men- 
tal training  of  young  women.  Young  men  were  not  ad- 
mitted until  1872.  The  first  principal  was  Prof.  Albert 
B.  Watkins,  the  present  vice-president  of  the  New  York 
State  Board  of  Regents  (New  York  University).  One  who 
was  familiar  with  the  institution  both  as  pupil  and  instructor 
writes  as  follows  :  — 

"  The  one  main  idea  of  the  founder  was  to  combine  physical 
with  mental  culture,  —  mens  sana  in  corpore  sano ;  and  the 
beneficial  results  of  such  a  system  of  education  were  exemplified 
in  a  wonderful  manner.  Very  many  students  of  delicate  constitu- 
tion, who  had  been  utterly  unable  to  remain  long  at  school  else- 
where, were  always  in  attendance  at  Willow-Park  Seminary ;  and 
there  was  not  one  of  them  who  did  not  improve  rapidly  in  health, 
while  doing  thorough  work  in  the  class-room.  The  means  em- 
ployed (together  with  plain  wholesome  food)  were  Dr.  Dio  Lewis's 
system  of  light  gymnastics  and  the  Turkish  bath.  The  physical 
exercises  and  the  health  department  were  under  the  personal 
supervision  of  Dr.  Hero,  whose  previous  experience  of  nearly 
twenty  years  as  a  practitioner  and  proprietor  of  a  health  institu- 
tion at  Athol,  and  of  the  Willow-Park  Cure,  made  him  eminently 
qualified  to  render  invaluable  service  in  a  school  of  this  kind. 
Frequent  talks  upon  hygiene  were  given,  and  *  right  living '  was 
a  duty  ever  as  urgently  enjoined  as  correct  speaking  and  clear 
reasoning." 


PUBLIC   LIBRARY.  379 

The  school  grew  rapidly,  and  in  the  course  of  a  few 
years  a  private  dwelling  near  by  was  taken  for  extra 
dormitories.  The  usual  number  of  students  was  about 
thirty-five ;  the  total  number  of  names  on  the  rolls  was 
about  four  hundred  and  fifty.  Many  of  the  pupils  came 
from  distant  parts  of  the  country.  The  hard  times  follow- 
ing the  crisis  of  1873,  which  seriously  affected  all  private 
schools  not  well  endowed,  made  it  necessary  to  close  the 
institution  in  1876. 

Next  to  the  schools  in  educational  value  comes  the 
public  library.  The  nucleus  of  the  present  collection  of 
books,  as  Mr.  De  Forest  has  already  shown,^  came  into 
the  possession  of  the  town  in  1857.  The  first  board  of 
trustees  consisted  of  the  Rev.  Luther  H.  Sheldon,  the  Rev. 
William  H.  Walker,  and  Samuel  M.  Griggs.  They  re- 
ported in  the  spring  of  1858  that  the  number  of  books 
catalogued  was  three  hundred  and  seventy-five,  but  that 
many,  which  "  were  found  to  be  worthless,  from  their 
peculiar  character  and  antiquity,"  were  packed  away  in 
boxes.  In  1864  Miss  Jane  S.  Beeton,  who  retained  the 
position  for  twenty-five  years,  was  appointed  librarian. 
The  library  remained  in  the  rear  of  the  old  Parkman  Store 
until  1868,  when  it  was  removed  to  a  room  in  the  Town 
Hall.  In  1879  the  town  received  from  a  former  resident, 
William  R.  Warner,  of  Fall  River,  the  gift  of  one  hundred 
and  seventeen  volumes.  In  1880  the  library  was  closed  for 
three  months,  and  a  new  catalogue  was  prepared.  The  fol- 
lowing year  saw  the  addition  of  a  reference  department  and 
reading-room.  In  1888  Miss  Clara  S.  Blake  was  appointed 
assistant-librarian,  and  on  Miss  Beeton's  resignation  in 
1889  became  her  successor.  The  second  librarian  is  Miss 
Mattie  J.  Eastman.      The  library  was  formerly  open  only 

^  See  p.  227. 


380  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

on  Wednesday  and  Saturday  afternoons  and  evenings,  but 
is  now  open  daily  from  one  o'clock  to  half-past  eight.  It 
has  increased  in  usefulness  very  fast.  In  1859  the  number 
of  volumes  was  reported  as  four  hundred  and  ninety-six, 
and  the  number  taken  out  during  the  year  preceding  was 
thirty-six  hundred.  In  1889  the  number  of  volumes  was 
reported  as  eight  thousand  one  hundred  and  sixty-five,  and 
the  number  taken  out  was  over  twenty-three  thousand. 
For  many  years  the  town  has  appropriated  the  income  of 
the  "  dog  fund  "  —  a  sum  of  three  or  four  hundred  dollars 
—  for  the  support  of  the  library,  and  for  the  past  few 
years  there  has  been  an  extra  appropriation  of  five  hun- 
dred dollars  for  salaries.  A  further  income  is  expected 
from  the  estate  of  Dr.  William  Curtis,  who  at  his  death 
in  1887  not  only  made  the  town  a  legacy  of  $1000  for 
constructing  a  gate  at  Pine  Grove  Cemetery,  but  left  the 
remainder  of  his  property,  after  payment  of  debts  and 
legacies,  to  trustees  for  the  benefit  of  the  public  library. 
The  sum,  the  income  of  which  is  to  be  expended  for 
books  and  magazines,  amounts  to  about  $14,000.  The 
trustees  of  the  Curtis  Fund  are  Louis  E.  Denfeld,  Charles 
S.  Henry,  and  Frank  W.  Forbes. 

The  care  of  the  poor  caused  the  community,  in  its  ear- 
lier days,  much  perplexity  and  expense.  It  was  custom- 
ary here,  as  in  other  places,  to  intrust  the  paupers  to  the 
tender  mercies  of  the  man  who  would  contract  to  board 
them  at  the  lowest  rate.  Such  a  plan,  in  these  days,  would 
probably  not  result  in  high  living  or  an  attractive  life.  But 
in  May,  1825,  a  committee,  consisting  of  Lovett  Peters, 
Joel  Parker,  Silas  Wesson,  Joshua  Mellen,  and  Otis  Brig- 
ham,  who  had  been  instructed  by  the  town  to  report  "  the 
best  way  and  means  of  supporting  the  poor,"  made  the 
following  statement:  — 


'^^^/^^ 


TOWN   POOR.  381 

"In  the  year  18 19  this  town  granted  1700  dollars  for  the  sup- 
port of  their  poor,  and  it  was  said  that  the  sum  was  not  sufficient. 
In  1820  we  granted  $1400.  We  had  at  that  time  something  like  20 
permanent  paupers,  about  one  to  every  65  inhabitants,  —  a  greater 
proportion,  perhaps,  than  any  other  town  in  the  commonwealth 
can  boast  of;  and  we  have  a  fair  prospect  of  having  as  great  a 
proportion  again  not  long  hence.  It  may  be  said  that  we  are  in 
no  danger  of  having  so  great  a  number  again  at  any  one  time.  In 
answer  to  this,  let  any  man  who  can  remember  this  Town  30  years 
ago  look  over  it  now,  carefully  and  candidly,  and  then  ask  himself 
whether  the  number  of  those  who  spend  one  half  of  their  time  in 
idleness,  and  the  other  half  in  drinking  out  what  they  earn  in  the 
one  half,  is  not  greatly  increased  ;  whether  he  would  see  so  many 
intemperate,  idle,  and  ragged  men,  idle  and  ragged  children, 
growing  up,  not  only  to  be  paupers,  but  mere  pests  of  society,  — 
for  what  good  can  rationally  be  expected  to  come  from  children 
who  are  brought  up  in  idleness,  where  they  see  their  parents  daily 
drunk,  and  as  often  fighting,  with  every  usual  accompanying  vice  ? 
The  prospect  is  a  discouraging  one.  It  must  be  discouraging  and 
truly  provoking  to  an  industrious  young  man  to  see  these  idle 
drunkards,  who  are  laying  up  nothing,  to  think  and  to  know,  in  all 
human  probability,  that  a  part  of  his  hard  earnings  must  go  to 
support  such  vile  characters,  —  who,  by  the  way,  are  not  entitled 
to  a  very  genteel  support. 

"  Another  advantage  [of  a  poor-farm],  and  not  an  inconsider- 
able one,  is  the  law  having  made  a  poor-house  a  house  of  correc- 
tion for  a  certain  description  of  persons,  of  which  description  we 
have  too  many.  It  is  believed  that  if  the  town  had  a  farm,  and  a 
few  examples  were  made  of  certain  ciiaracters,  it  would  be  a  terror 
to  evil-doers ;  to  such  as  say  by  their  conduct,  and  sometimes  in 
words,  that  when  they  cannot  maintain  themselves  any  longer 
Westborough  must  maintain  them,  and  without  work  too.  There 
have  been  repeated  instances  in  this  town  of  paupers  [saying], 
*  The  town  pays  for  my  board,  and  I  will  not  work  except  I  have 
the  benefit  of  it  myself.'  This  is  an  error  which  needs  to  be 
corrected." 

The  committee  presented  strong  arguments  in  favor  of 
a  "  pauper  establishment."     They  cited  several  towns  to 


382  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

show  the  probable  saving  in  expense.  "  The  Town  of 
Worcester,"  says  the  report,  "  saved  one  half  the  first 
year.  Doct.  Lincoln  states  that  they  now  save  three 
quarters,  —  that  is,  it  costs  but  one  quarter  as  much  now 
as  when  they  were  boarded  in  families."  These,  with 
other  arguments,  had  their  proper  effect.  At  the  March 
meeting,  in  1825,  the  paupers,  twelve  in  number,  were 
"  struck  off,"  as  usual,  to  Levi  Bowman,  who  promised  to 
support  them  at  the  rate  of  ninety-seven  cents  per  week. 
At  a  meeting  held  May  2,  however,  the  following  action 
was  taken :  — 

"  Voted,  to  purchase  a  farm  for  a  Pauper  establishment ;  also, 
voted,  to  choose  a  committee  of  seven,  by  ballot,  to  purchase  a 
farm  for  the  more  comfortably  and  economically  supporting  the 
Poor  of  said  town.  The  votes  were  called  for  by  the  moderator, 
and  the  following  were  chosen,  viz. :  Lovett  Peters,  Esqr.,  Capt. 
Silas  Wesson,  Joshua  Mellen,  Deacon  Jonathan  Forbes,  Benjamin 
Fay,  Jr.,  Capt.  Daniel  Chamberlain,  and  Jesse  Woods.  Voted,  and 
authorized  this  committee  to  borrow  money  as  much  as  may  be 
necessary  to  pay  for  the  said  pauper  establishment  on  the  credit  of 
the  town  of  Westborough,  to  be  paid  by  instalments." 

The  farm  of  Capt.  Daniel  Chamberlain,  on  the  Flanders 
road,  was  immediately  purchased  by  the  committee.  Its 
area  was  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  acres.  The  price 
paid  was  $4,600.  It  remained  the  "  town  farm "  until 
1 88 1,  when  the  town  voted  to  erect  the  present  excel- 
lent house  for  its  paupers  on  the  Sandra  farm,  which  had 
been  purchased  by  the  water  commissioners  in  1879.  The 
old  farm  was  sold  for  $6,750  to  George  P.  Bingham,  of 
Boston. 

The  following  table,  which  is  compiled  from  the  re- 
ports of  the  overseers  of  the  poor,  shows  some  interest- 
ing changes  in  their  department  during  the  past  thirty 
years :  — 


FIRE  DEPARTMENT. 


383 


Year  ending 

Number  of 
Persons 
at  Farm. 

Appropriations  for 

Support  of 

Koor. 

Appraised  Value  of 
Farm  and  Property. 

March  1,  i860 

Feb.  23,    1865 

Feb.    I,    1871 

Feb-.    I,    1875 

Feb.    I,    1880 

Feb.    I,    1885 

Feb,    I,    1890 

23 
12 

19 
17 
12 

Si, 400 

1,400 
1,000 
900 
6,000 
4,500 
3.500 

•?7.276-64 
9,136.01 
11,230.00 
12,262.00 
11,444.95 
10,057.90 
10,693.10 

From  this  table  it  will  be  seen  that  although  the  town 
has  nearly  doubled  in  population  during  the  past  thirty- 
years,  the  number  of  paupers  at  the  town-farm  remains 
about  the  same.  Some  of  the  appropriation,  of  course,  is 
spent  in  assisting  the  poor  at  their  homes ;  but  the  increase 
in  the  amount  of  the  annual  appropriation  is  chiefly  due  to 
the  improved  accommodations  granted  to  the  inmates  of 
the  town  farm. 

A  fire  department  was  formally  organized  in  West- 
borough  in  the  spring  of  1842.  About  twelve  years  pre- 
viously, however,  Capt.  Charles  Parkman,  the  leading 
tradesman  of  the  town,  had  procured  a  small  hand-engine, 
or  "  tub,"  and  a  fire  company  had  been  organized  from 
the  members  of  the  old  military  company  which  had  just 
disbanded.  It  was  a  private  organization,  and  received 
no  aid  from  the  town.  The  machine  was  a  small  affair, 
with  a  few  feet  of  leading  hose,  and  the  water  which  it 
threw  was  supplied  by  pails  instead  of  by  a  suction-pipe. 
In  1832  the  town,  on  being  asked  to  build  an  engine-house 
for  its  protection,  voted,  as  so  frequently  in  later  years, 
"to  pass  over  the  article."  In  November,  1834,  an  article, 
"  to  see  if  the  town  will  take  any  measures  to  provide  a 
fire-engine  for  the  use  of  the  town,"  shared  the  same  fate ; 
but  when  the  matter  came  up  again  in  November,  1838, 


384  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

the  town  not  only  chose  a  committee,  consisting  of  Abijah 
Stone,  Tristram  Libbey,  and  Jonas  Longley,  to  ascertain 
the  cost  of  an  engine  and  apparatus,  but  also  voted  to 
put  at  their  disposal,  provided  an  equal  amount  could  be 
raised  by  private  subscription,  the  sum  of  two  hundred 
dollars.  The  committee  accordingly  circulated  a  paper, 
and  secured  the  signatures  and  promises  of  sixty-six  citi- 
zens. George  Denny  gave  forty  dollars,  and  the  others 
from  one  dollar  to  twelve  dollars  each.  At  a  town-meeting 
held  March  11,  1839,  Jonas  Longley,  in  behalf  of  the  com- 
mittee, submitted  the  following  report:  — 

"  Your  committee  .  .  .  report  they  have  received  a  subscrip- 
tion of  individuals  amounting  to  $288,  which  accompanies  this 
report.  They  also  received  $200  from  town  treasurer,  as  appro- 
priated by  the  town.  They  have  purchased  an  Engine  &  ap- 
paratus, the  whole  cost  of  it  being  $486.18,  including  $5  for 
freight  on  Railroad,  which  was  a  gift  to  the  fire  department  of 
Westborough." 

The  engine  was  a  Thayer  "  tub,"  and  did  its  duty  for 
about  ten  years.  Gardner  Cloyes  was  the  first  foreman 
of  the  company  which  manned  it.  The  old  "  tub  "  was 
given  to  the  Woods,  who  owned  the  mill  at  Woodville. 

In  the  winter  of  1839  the  Legislature  passed  an  Act 
authorizing  towns  to  establish  fire  departments  with  en- 
gineers. An  effort  was  made  to  have  Westborough  take 
advantage  of  the  privilege  thus  conferred,  but  the  ma- 
jority were  against  it.  On  March  i,  1842,  however,  the 
Legislature  passed  an  Act  establishing  a  fire  department  in 
Westborough,  which  the  voters  at  town-meeting,  April  11, 
accepted.  The  selectmen  appointed  engineers,  and  Jonas 
Longley,  who  held  the  office  for  ten  years,  was  chosen 
chief  A  year  after  his  election  he  made  the  following 
report  to  the  selectmen :  — 


FIRE   DEPARTMENT.  385 

"  The   members   of   the   department   are   nine   engineers   and 
thirty-five  engine-men. 

"  The  apparatus  consists  of  one  engine,  24  feet  of  suction-hose, 
123  feet  leading  hose,  one  hose-carriage,  4  buckets,   2  axes,  one 
signal  lantern,  one  torch,  3  ladders,  one  large  tub  for  reservoir  for 
water,  one  sled  for  engine,  6  oil-cloth  dresses  for  hosemen. 
"The  original  cost  of  the  above  articles  was  $608.20. 
$294.00  paid  by  subscription. 
$314.20  paid  by  the  town. 


It  was  probably  not  a  matter  of  much  regret  to  the 
engine-men  when  their  "  tub  "  finally  disgraced  itself  by 
refusing  to  work.  This  occurred  in  January,  1850.  John 
W.  Fairbanks,  then  a  boy,  had  accidentally  set  fire  to  his 
father's  shop,  and  when  the  engine  was  brought  to  the 
scene  it  was  found  to  be  out  of  order  and  useless.  At  the 
town-meeting  in  November  preceding  there  had  been  an 
article  in  the  warrant  to  see  if  the  town  would  repair,  sell, 
or  exchange  their  engine.  The  subject  had  been  referred, 
with  full  power  to  act,  to  the  engineers  of  the  fire  de- 
partment, —  George  Denny,  Corning  Fairbanks,  Gardner 
Cloyes,  Benjamin  F.  Forbush,  Anson  Warren,  Joseph  H. 
Fairbanks,  Payson  H.  Perrin,  and  Jonas  A.  Stone.  They 
acted  with  moderation;  but  on  June  5,  1850,  they  voted 
to  sell  the  old  machine  for  $356.  A  new  one,  with  appa- 
ratus, was  bought  of  Hunneman  &  Co.  for  $946.  It  was 
a  hand-tub,  known  in  after  years  as  "  Chauncy,"  and 
remained  in  use  until  six  years  ago. 

In  March,  1868,  the  burning  of  the  Parkman  Store  again 
showed  the  town  that  its  facilities  for  extinguishing  fires 
were  inadequate.  On  April  13  following,  a  committee  was 
chosen  to  investigate  the  subject  of  purchasing  a  new 
engine.     It  consisted  of  Lyman  Belknap,  Josiah  Jackson, 


386  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

and  Israel  H.  Bullard.  At  a  later  meeting,  April  27,  Wil- 
liam M.  Child  and  Reuben  Boynton  were  added  to  the 
committee.  The  town  instructed  them  to  buy  a  steamer, 
hose,  and  hook-and-ladder  carriage,  with  apparatus ;  to 
prepare  suitable  houses  for  the  new  equipment;  and  to 
build  such  reservoirs  as  seemed  to  them  expedient.  The 
committee  accordingly  purchased  from  Hunneman  &  Co. 
a  steamer,  —  which  was  named  in  honor  of  the  Chief  En- 
gineer, Josiah  Jackson,  and  still  forms  part  of  the  depart- 
ment,—  and  had  a  ladder-carriage,  costing,  with  ladders, 
hooks,  axes,  and  the  rest,  about  $240,  built  by  W.  H. 
&  F.  Sibley.  In  regard  to  reservoirs,  the  committee  re- 
ported that  there  were  six  already  built  in  different  parts 
of  the  town,  and  recommended  the  construction  of  six 
more,  —  all  of  them  to  be  built  of  brick  and  cemented, 
with  a  capacity  of  two  hundred  hogsheads  each.  Their 
recommendations  were  adopted  by  the  town. 

The  first  annual  report  of  the  engineers  of  the  fire  de- 
partment was  made  in  187 1.  In  their  second  report,  dated 
Feb.  I,  1872,  they  made  the  following  statement  regarding 
the  condition  of  the  department :  — 

"  The  apparatus  in  active  service  at  this  date  is  as  follows  ;  viz., 
one  hand  engine,  one  steamer,  one  hose-carriage,  one  hook-and- 
ladder  truck,  two  hose-reels,  one  hundred  and  twenty -four  (124) 
feet  of  ladders,  and  two  thousand  (2000)  feet  of  hose,  all  in  good 
condition.  The  department  now  organized  consists  of  ninety-five 
(95)  men,  divided  as  follows  :  — 

"Chauncy  Engine  Co.  No.  i,  42  men;  Steamer  Jackson  No.  2, 
20  men;  Hook  and  Ladder  No.  i,  17  men;  Hose-Carriage,  i 
man;  Fire  Police,  10  men  ;  Engineers,  5  men  :  total,  95  men. 

"  In  connection  with  the  above  is  the  Young  America  Bucket 
Company  (an  independent  company),  consisting  of  twenty  mem- 
bers, with  fifty  feet  of  ladders  and  twenty-four  buckets,  with  suit- 
able truck  for  carrying  the  same  ;  this  company  are  always  on  the 


FIRE   DEPARTMENT.  387 

alert,  and  at  the  first  sound  of  the  alarm  are  at  their  post,  ready 
and  willing  to  render  all  the  assistance  in  their  power." 

The  efficiency  of  the  fire  department  was  increased  in 
1879  by  the  introduction  of  Sandra  water.  The  head, 
one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  feet,  gives  sufficient  force  to 
throw  a  dozen  streams  on  the  roof  of  any  building  about 
the  Square.  Hydrants,  now  numbering  seventy-nine,  were 
set  in  various  parts  of  the  town,  and  a  hose  company, 
with  a  new  carriage  named  after  Dr.  William  Curtis,  was 
added  to  the  fire  department.  In  1886  the  town  adopted 
an  electric  fire-alarm,  with  box  at  the  corner  of  Main  and 
South  Streets,  and  strikers  on  the  bells  of  the  Baptist  and 
Congregational  Churches.  The  new  truck  of  the  Rescue 
Hook  and  Ladder  Company  was  purchased,  at  a  cost  of 
$800,  in  1887.  In  1888,  after  many  years  of  urging,  the 
town  voted  to  build  an  engine-house.  An  appropriation 
of  $13,000  was  made,  and  a  committee  was  chosen,  con- 
sisting of  the  engineers, —  Henry  L.  Chase,  George  T. 
Fayerweather,  James  McDonald,  Fred  J.  Taylor,  and 
Hazon  Leighton,  —  with  Anson  Warren,  George  O.  Brig- 
ham,  and  William  T.  Forbes.  The  Maynard  place,  at  the 
corner  of  Milk  and  Grove  Streets,  was  purchased  as  the 
site,  and  the  new  engine-house  was  ready  for  public  in- 
spection in  January,  1889.  The  Chronofype  gave  the  fol- 
lowing detailed  description  of  the  new  structure:  — 

"  The  building  is  of  brick,  with  granite  trimmings  and  slated  hip- 
roof, and  bears  in  granite  figures  '  1888 '  upon  its  front.  It  is  a 
handsome  and  imposing-looking  building  on  its  exterior,  and  the 
interior  is  also  handsome,  roomy,  and  convenient.  The  building  is 
45  X  50  feet,  with  four  front  doors  nine  feet  wide,  and  eleven  and 
one  half  feet  high,  through  which  to  pass  with  the  machines.  There 
is  a  side  door  of  smaller  dimensions  for  daily  use.  The  lower  story 
has  but  one  room,  twelve  feet  high,  and  it  is  sheathed  in  ash  to  the 


388  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

height  of  six  feet,  with  walls  above  the  sheathing  in  hard  finish. 
This  room  will  contain  all  the  apparatus  of  the  department,  —  a 
steam  fire-engine,  hook-and-ladder  carriage,  hose-carriages,  etc.  It 
has  six  large  windows,  4X7  feet,  and  windows  in  all  the  doors.  In 
the  left-hand  rear  corner  a  long  sink  offers  an  opportunity  for  the 
*  boys '  to  '  wash  up,'  and  a  rear  door  opens  into  the  tower,  where 
a  well,  four  feet  in  diameter  and  as  many  feet  deep,  is  for  washing 
hose ;  and  above  it  the  tower  runs  up  to  a  height  of  fifty-five  feet. 
Double  stairs  by  the  centre  of  the  rear  wall  lead  up  to  a  landing 
and  a  turn  to  ascend  several  more  steps  to  the  second  story,  where 
in  the  centre  is  the  upper  hall,  10  X  25  feet,  with  doors  leading 
into  the  engineer's  room,  10  X  12  feet,  a  front  room  at  the  end  of 
the  hall,  two  corner  front  rooms,  17^  X  18  feet,  two  rooms  in  their 
rear  of  the  same  size,  and  the  rear  rooms  are  a  store  room,  8  X  15 
feet,  and  a  bath-room,  8  X  15.  The  bath-room  has  a  nice  tub, 
set-bowl,  etc.,  and  a  chest  of  drawers,  and  presents  a  very  attractive 
appearance.  The  rooms  in  this  story  are  ten  feet  high,  finished  in 
ash,  and  the  walls  partially  sheathed,  as  in  the  room  below.  There 
are  transoms  over  all  the  doors.  The  cellar  and  the  wide  side- 
walks are  concreted,  and  show  the  remarkably  good  work  for  which 
the  Westborough  concreters  have  acquired  an  enviable  reputation. 
Outside  and  inside  doors  lead  to  the  cellar.  All  the  rooms  are 
well  lighted.  Picture  mouldings  now  adorn  the  walls,  but  the  fur- 
niture and  pictures  will  not  be  in  position  until  the  first  of  next 
week.  The  building  is  heated  by  the  Spence  hot-water  system,  — 
the  lower  room  being  piped,  and  the  upper  rooms  having  radiators. 
The  supply  of  hot  and  cold  water  will  be  ample  at  all  times  for 
cleanliness  and  neatness  to  prevail  at  these  headquarters  for  our 
ready  and  gallant  firemen." 

In  1889  members  of  the  fire  department  organized 
the  Firemen's  Relief  Association,  having  for  its  object 
"  the  relief,  care,  and  assistance  "  of  its  sick  and  disabled 
members. 

The  principal  fires  since  1870,  the  number  of  alarms 
each  year,  the  losses,  etc.,  are  shown  in  the  following 
table.  It  is  compiled  from  the  reports  of  the  engineers 
of  the  fire  department:  — 


^/j/muzc^ 


FIRE   DEPARTMENT. 


389 


Year. 


1870 
1871 

1872 

1873 


1874 

1875 
1876 

1877 


1879 
1880 
1S81 
1882 
1883 
1884 
1S85 

1 886 

1887 
1888 
1889 


No.of 
Alarms. 


7 

9 

4 

II 

9 

6 

9 

14 


Total  Loss. 


Principal  Fires.' 


Small. 

$40,000 
42,000 

4,000 

1,000 
44,250 

2,800 

2,050 

Small. 

1,000 

4,250 

1,450 

3,300 

400 

930 

42,525 

10,100 

1,900 

10,500 


April  14,  Union  Block 

Way  II,  High  Street  School-house 

Feb.  8,  Dwelling  of  J.  Marrotte,  Ch's.  St. 
June    17,    Central   Block,    Eagle    Block, 

Protective  Union  Store 

May  3,  "  No  4  "  School-house 

June  3,  Reuben  Boynton's  Barn 

April  15,  C.  M.  Holmes's  Factory 

Aug.  2,  J.  Prescott's  Barn 

April  24,  Nourse  Place 

April  29,  G.  B.  Brigham's  Farm-house  . . 
Jan.  24,  J.  Prescott's  Barn    

May  21,  Fisher's  Mill 

April  17,  C.  D.  Cobb  &  Co.'s  Grain  Store. 

March  22,  C.  Fairbanks's  Box-factory, 


April  5,  Milk  St.  Boot-factory  and  Cath- 
olic Church , 

Sept.  28,  A.  Robinson's  House  and  Barn. 

Feb.  23,  John  Dolan's  House  and  Barn . . 
June  10,  L.  R.  Bates's  Straw-shop 


$30,000 
5,000 
1,500 

40,000 
1,500 
2,500 

40,000 
3,000 
1,600 
1, 200 
2,000 

1,000 
2,850 

1,500 


42,000 
10,000 

3,900 

4,225 


The  following  is  a  list  of  the  chief  engineers  of  the  fire 
department  since  1870:  — 

Urial  Montague 1870-73 

William  M.  Blake 1873-75 

Cleorge  T.  Fayerweather     ....  1875-77 

Bowers  C.  Hathaway 1877-79 

Charles  E.  Smith 1879-80 

Israel  H.  Bullard 1880-81 

Bowers  C.  Hathaway 1881-82 

Charles  E.  Smith 1882-83 

David  B.  Faulkner 1883-84 

George  T.  Fayerweather     ....  1884-86 

George  L.  Smith 1886-87 

Henry  L.  Chase 1887- 

1  This  includes  all  fires  where  the  loss  was  over  f  1,000. 


390  LATER   HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

The  manual  of  the  department  at  present  is  as  follows : 

Chief  Engineer i 

Assistant  Engineers 4 

Chauncy  Hose  No.  i 15 

Jackson  Steamer  Co.  No.  2 16 

William  Curtis  Hose  Co.  No.  2   ....  20 

Rescue  Hook  and  Ladder  Co.  No.  i    .     .  30 

Union  Hose  Co.  No.  i 2 

Number  of  men 88 

Since  1881,  the  Rescue  Hook  and  Ladder  Company 
has  taken  part  in  several  racing  contests.  From  October 
18,  1882,  when  it  beat  the  "Excelsiors,"  of  Leominster, 
to  August  26,  1887,  when  it  was  beaten  by  the  "J.  N. 
Grouts,"  of  Spencer,  the  Westborough  company  held  the 
championship  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER   VI. 

1860-1890. 

NEWSPAPERS.  —  POST-OFFICE.  —  BANKS.  —  DISTRICT 
COURT.  —  LYMAN   SCHOOL.  —  INSANE    HOSPITAL. 

THE  first  attempts  at  founding  a  local  paper  in  West- 
borough  have  been  described  by  Mr.  De  Forest  in 
a  previous  chapter.^  After  the  Westborough  Transcript 
was  discontinued,  in  1863,  the  community  struggled  along 
without  a  paper  for  over  three  years.  Late  in  1866  a  print- 
ing-office —  the  first  one  in  town  —  was  established  by 
W.  A.  Hemenway;  and  in  September  following,  Charles 
H.  Pierce,  at  present  a  well-known  engineer  in  Providence, 
R.  I.,  entered  into  partnership  with  him  for  the  express 
purpose  of  publishing  a  local  paper  which  should  be 
printed,  as  well  as  edited,  in  Westborough.  The  firm, 
having  procured  a  new  outfit,  on  October  12,  1867,  issued 
the  first  number  of  The  Saturday  Evening  Chrotiotype  and 
Weekly  Review.  It  was  a  small,  four-column  quarto,  with 
a  heading  so  elaborate  as  to  occupy  nearly  a  third  of  the 
first  page.  There  were  four  or  five  items  of  local  news  in 
the  first  issue,  much  general  reading  matter  scattered  in 
various  departments,  and  a  few  small  advertisements.  The 
editorial  announcement,  as  may  be  seen  from  the  fol- 
lowing extract,  contained  an  interesting  glance  at  former 
journalistic  efforts  in  Westborough:  — 

^  See  p.  228. 


392  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH, 

"On  the  13th  day  of  October,  1S49,  C.  C.  P.  Moody,  a  well- 
known  Boston  printer  who  had  formerly  resided  in  this  town, 
commenced  the  publication  of  a  weekly  quarter-sheet,  called  the 
Westboroi'  Messenger,  It  was  unpretentious  in  style,  as  in  size ; 
its  make-up  consisting  mainly,  of  course,  of  local  items  and  cor- 
respondence, with  the  usual  display  of  '  original  poetry '  blossom 
buds.  In  fact,  native  talent  improved  its  opportunity  and  secured 
thorough  ventilation.  But  though  nominally  a  Westboro'  paper, 
the  Messenger  was  edited  and  printed  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Moody, 
in  Boston,  and  sent  here  for  distribution.  The  local  character  of 
this  enterprise  was,  therefore,  in  one  sense,  a  pleasant  fiction ; 
and  necessarily  so,  since  with  only  two  fifths  of  our  present  popu- 
lation and  wealth,  and  one  fifteenth  our  present  volume  of  manu- 
facturing business,  no  press  could  then  be  sustained  here.  After 
a  brief  trial,  the  enterprise  proving  less  profitable  to  the  publish- 
ers than  entertaining  to  its  patrons,  it  was  abandoned. 

"  In  the  month  of  August,  1855,  a  hirsute  stranger  made  his 
appearance  among  us  and  announced  his  intention  of  showing 
how  the  thing  ought  to  be  done.  Accordingly,  on  the  first  of 
September  following  he  issued  the  first  number  of  his  paper,  now 
known  to  fame  as  the  Westboro'  Sheaf.  Coarse  paper,  battered 
type,  shallow  prose,  and  wishy-washy  poetry  entered  largely  into 
its  composition.  Its  local  character  was  only  one  remove  less 
imaginary  than  that  of  its  predecessor ;  for  though  its  editorial 
manager  had  his  headquarters  in  town,  the  composition  and  press- 
work  were  done  in  Boston,  on  contract,  by  another  printer.  The 
Sheaf  languished  through  a  miserable  existence  of  less  than  a  year, 
with  little  comfort  to  itself,  and  of  no  use  to  its  friends,  and  then 
shared  the  fate  of  the  unfortunate  being  in  the  clown's  pathetic 
narrative,  who  lay  down  on  his  back,  opened  his  mouth,  and  let 
the  wind  all  out  of  him. 

"  In  December,  i860,  Geo.  Mills  Joy,  an  erratic  genius,  came 
to  our  neighboring  town  of  Marlboro',  and  in  connection  with 
Edwin  Rice,  of  that  town,  commenced  the  newspaper  publishing 
business  on  a  novel  plan.  By  suitable  changes  of  heading  and 
dates,  and  local  correspondence  from  the  several  towns  in  the 
vicinity  of  Marlboro',  they  made  the  same  matter  answer  for  a 


NEWSPAPERS.  393 

local  paper  in  each  of  these  towns.  We  in  this  town  were  served 
with  the  Westboro'  Transcript ;  and  the  editor  of  this  paper  under- 
took the  '  local '  work,  and  persevered  (under  difificulties,  at  times) 
for  eighteen  months,  when  other  duties  interfered  and  he  retired. 
The  publication  of  the  Westborough  edition  continued  about  a  year 
longer ;  but  it  never  after  had  a  regular  local  editor,  and  the  interest 
formerly  felt  in  the  paper  gradually  decreased  until  its  suspension." 

The  new  paper  established  itself  at  once  in  popular 
favor,  and  became,  as  it  has  since  remained,  a  prominent 
and  useful  institution  of  the  town.  With  the  exception 
of  four  weeks  after  its  office  was  destroyed  by  fire  at  the 
burning  of  Union  Block,  April  14,  1872,  its  regular  weekly 
publication  has  been  uninterrupted.  It  has  undergone, 
meanwhile,  many  changes  and  improvements.  At  pres- 
ent it  is  a  nine-column  folio,  —  frequently  with  a  large 
supplement  in  addition.  Its  name  has  been  altered  to 
Westborough  Chronotype.  The  paper  remained  under  the 
editorial  management  of  Mr.  Pierce  until  November  i, 
1869,  when  he  retired  to  accept  the  position  of  Assistant- 
Engineer  on  the  Providence  Water-Works.  H.  H.  Stevens, 
who  had  previously  bought  the  interest  of  Mr.  Hemen- 
way,  became  sole  publisher  and  editor,  and  so  remained 
until  his  death,  September  26,  1871.  Dr.  Edwin  B.  Harvey, 
while  Mr.  Stevens's  estate  was  being  settled,  conducted 
the  paper  for  about  six  months.  Its  office  was  destroyed 
by  fire,  April  14,  1872.  On  May  18  following,  A.  J.  Pres- 
cott  &  Son,  having  bought  the  subscription  list  and  good- 
will, began  the  publication  of  the  paper  in  its  present 
quarters.  The  senior  partner  of  this  firm  was  a  woman. 
With  her  son,  W.  W.  Prescott,  she  continued  the  busi- 
ness until  May  i,  1874,  when  R.  F.  Holton  and  C.  H. 
Thurston,  the   present   proprietors,  purchased  the  paper 


394  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

and  printing-office.  Under  their  management  the  Chrono- 
type  has  improved  and  flourished. 

About  two  years  ago  there  seemed  to  be  room  in  West- 
borough  for  a  second  paper,  and  William  D.  McPherson, 
of  South  Framingham,  established  The  Westborough  Trib- 
une. The  first  issue  was  dated  November  29,  1888.  The 
paper  met  at  the  outset  with  considerable  encourage- 
ment, but  from  various  causes  —  chiefly,  perhaps,  from 
the  fact  that  it  was  printed  out  of  town  —  interest  in 
the  enterprise  declined.  In  the  spring,  Mr.  McPherson 
gave  up  the  personal  oversight  of  the  paper  to  Thomas 
Tresilian.  The  Union  Publishing  Company,  however,  — 
the  owners  of  the  Framingham  Tribune,  with  which  Mr. 
McPherson  was  connected,  —  remained  the  proprietors. 
In  July,  1889,  when  the  paper  was  on  the  verge  of  ruin, 
it  was  taken  from  their  hands  by  some  Westborough  men 
who  considered  it  advantageous  to  the  community  to  have 
the  paper  live.  They  soon  placed  it  on  a  more  profitable 
basis,  and  made  efibrts  to  secure  the  proper  persons  to 
manage  it.  In  January,  1890,  Ira  M.  Beaman  and  Albert 
E.  Hoyt,  young  men  from  northern  New  York,  bought 
the  subscription-list  and  good-will.  They  established  an 
excellent  printing-office,  and  began  a  series  of  great  im- 
provements in  the  paper.  It  was  immediately  enlarged 
from  a  seven-column  folio  to  a  six-column  quarto,  and 
all  its  interests  were  promoted  with  skill  and  energy.  It 
is  now  issued  from  the  office  in  Davenport's  Block  every 
Friday  morning. 

The  Westborough  post-office  was  established  March  6, 
181 1.  Nathan  Fisher  was  the  first  postmaster.  The  office, 
it  is  said,  was  in  the  house  now  occupied  by  Miss  Hannah 
Peters,  on  South  Street.    The  second  postmaster.  Captain 


POST-OFFICE.  395 

Silas  Wesson,  who  was  appointed  December  i6,  1820, 
moved  the  office  to  his  tavern  at  the  corner  of  the  turnpike 
and  the  road  now  known  as  Lyman  Street,  and  subse- 
quently to  his  new  tavern  near  Willow  Park.  He  remained 
postmaster  until  July  23,  1833,  when  his  barkeeper,  Daniel 
Baird,  succeeded  him.  The  name  of  the  office  had  been 
officially  changed  to  "  North  Westborough  "  in  1832,  and  a 
few  months  later  to  "  Wessonville."  This  was  on  account 
of  the  establishment  of  another  post-office  in  the  centre 
of  the  town.  Mr.  Baird  remained  postmaster  at  Wesson- 
ville until  March  25,  1836;  Onslow  Peters  served  from  that 
time  to  May  27,  1836;  and  Captain  Wesson,  again  be- 
coming postmaster,  held  the  position  from  Mr.  Peters's 
retirement  until  September  6,  1838.  On  that  date  —  the 
building  of  the  railroad  through  another  part  of  the  town 
having  deprived  the  turnpike  village  of  its  importance  — 
the  post-office  at  Wessonville  was  discontinued. 

The  first  postmaster  of  the  office  in  the  centre  after 
its  re-establishment  was  Charles  Parkman,  the  propri- 
etor of  the  village  store.  His  appointment  was  dated 
March  16,  1832.  Charles  P.  Jones  succeeded  him  Octo- 
ber 18,  1834,  and  remained  postmaster  until  August  31, 
1835.  On  that  date  Daniel  Holbrook  was  appointed. 
Although  he  held  the  position  but  two  months,  it  is 
likely  that  he  moved  the  office  —  probably  not  a  very 
difficult  task  —  from  the  Parkman  Store  to  his  own  store 
across  the  street.  Charles  B.  Parkman,  however,  who 
was  appointed  October  30,  1835,  doubtless  had  it  back  in 
its  old  quarters  without  delay.  Milton  M.  Fisher,  who 
was  appointed  April  23,  1838,  and  his  successor,  Wel- 
lington L.  G.  Hunt,  who  was  appointed  November  5,  1839, 
had  the  office  in  the  present  Cobb's  Block,  then  known 


396  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

as  the  "  Brick  Block."  Ethan  Bullard  succeeded  Mr.  Hunt 
December  30,  1847,  and  moved  it  back  again  to  the  old 
Parkman  Store.  Mr.  Bullard's  successor,  appointed  June 
2,  1849,  was  John  A.  Fayerweather,  Mr.  Fayerweather 
states  that  during  his  term  the  annual  income  of  the 
office  was  between  four  and  five  hundred  dollars.  One 
mail  in  each  direction  arrived,  and  one  departed,  every 
morning.  The  boxes  which  were  then  used  are  now  in 
the  post-office  at  Southborough.  In  1853  there  was  a 
change  in  the  politics  of  the  administration  at  Washing- 
ton, and  Mr.  Fayerweather  gave  place  to  Josiah  A.  Brig- 
ham,  a  staunch  Democrat.  The  new  postmaster  moved 
the  office  to  Corner  Block  (the  site  of  the  present  Central 
Block),  where  it  remained  sixteen  years.  Josiah  Childs 
succeeded  Mr.  Brigham  April  22,  1861,  and  served  until 
the  appointment  of  Frank  W.  Bullard,  April  22,  1869. 
Six  weeks  after  his  appointment  Mr.  Bullard  moved  the 
office  across  the  street  to  the  new  block  which  had  been 
erected  on  the  site  of  the  Parkman  Store.  The  new  struc- 
ture thus  became  "  Post-Office  Block,"  —  a  name  that  it 
has  not  yet  had  occasion  to  change.  At  this  time  the 
number  of  mails  each  day  had  increased  to  six,  —  three 
arriving,  and  three  departing.  Mr.  Bullard,  whose  loss  ot 
a  leg  in  the  Civil  War  gave  him  a  title  to  the  consider- 
ation of  the  authorities,  held  the  office  until  after  the 
election  of  President  Cleveland.  His  successor,  Dennis 
D.  Dinan,  was  appointed  March  29,  1886.  Three  years 
later,  —  March  7,  1889,  —  the  Republican  party  having 
again  triumphed.  President  Harrison  restored  Mr.  Bullard 
to  the  office  which  he  had  held  so  long. 

The  Westborough  post-office  is  now  rated  in  the  third 
class.     There   are   twenty-two    mails   each  day,  —  eleven 


J.^<^^ 


Yy^^^yz^Si^ 


BANKS.  397 

"in,"  and  eleven  "out."  The  postmaster's  salary  is  $1,900. 
During  the  last  fiscal  year,  ending  June  30,  1890,  the  in- 
come of  the  office  was  over  eight  thousand  dollars. 

There  are  two  banks  in  Westborough,  —  the  First  Na- 
tional Bank  and  the  Westborough  Savings  Bank.  The 
former  was  chartered  May  11,  1864.  Its  capital  at  the 
beginning  was  $100,000.  It  was  afterwards  increased  to 
$150,000  for  a  few  years,  but  is  now  at  the  original 
amount.  John  A.  Fayerweather  has  been  president  since 
the  bank  was  organized.  Samuel  M.  Griggs  was  cashier 
two  years,  and  since  his  retirement  George  O.  Brigham 
has  held  the  position.  William  A.  Reed  has  been  assis- 
tant-cashier during  the  last  two  years.  The  bank  had 
rooms  in  the  old  Corner  Block  until  the  erection  of  Post- 
Office  Block,  in  1869.  Its  present  quarters  were  taken 
at  that  time. 

The  Savings  Bank  was  incorporated  February  9,  1869. 
Cyrus  Fay  was  president  until  his  death,  in  1884;  Edwin 
Bullard,  the  present  president,  was  his  successor.  George 
O.  Brigham  has  been  treasurer  from  the  beginning.  The 
bank  has  done  a  large  and  growing  business  in  a  manner 
highly  creditable  to  its  managers.  Its  depositors  last 
year  numbered  twenty-three  hundred  and  thirteen.  The 
following  figures  are  from  the  Treasurer's  Report  for 
1889:  — 

Amount  of  deposits,  Jan.  I,  1889 $667,701.86 

"  "        received  during  the  year   .     .     .     179,391.12 

"  "         withdrawn 142,971.13 

"  "         Jan.  I,  1890 704,121.85 

Increase  of      *'  36,419.99 

The  First  District  Court  of  Eastern  Worcester  —  which 
sits  at  Westborough  Mondays,  Wednesdays,  and  Fridays, 


398  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

and  at  Grafton  Tuesdays,  Thursdays,  and  Saturdays  —  was 
instituted  by  Act  of  the  Legislature  in  1872.  It  has  juris- 
diction over  the  towns  of  Westborough,  Grafton,  North- 
borough,  and  Southborough.  James  W.  White,  of  Grafton, 
was  the  first  justice  of  the  court.  Mr.  White  died  in  Octo- 
ber, 1875,  and  William  T.  Forbes,  of  Westborough,  the 
present  judge  of  probate  for  Worcester  County,  became 
his  successor.  On  Mr.  Forbes's  resignation,  in  1879, 
Dexter  Newton,  of  Southborough,  was  appointed  justice. 
He  died  in  September,  1890,  and  was  succeeded  by  Ed- 
ward C.  Bates,  of  Westborough.  For  the  past  fifteen 
years  there  have  been  two  special  justices.  Benjamin 
B.  Nourse,  of  Westborough,  who  still  holds  the  office, 
and  Hubbard  Willson,  then  of  Southborough,  were  the 
first  appointed.  On  Mr.  Willson's  resignation,  in  1879, 
Luther  K.  Leland,  of  Grafton,  became  his  successor.  The 
judge's  salary,  when  the  court  was  instituted,  was  $800. 
It  was  cut  down  to  $700  in  1879,  but  was  afterwards  re- 
stored to  the  original  sum.  It  has  since  been  increased 
to  $1,000  per  year. 

There  are  two  State  institutions  in  Westborough,  —  the 
Lyman  School  for  Boys  and  the  Westborough  Insane 
Hospital, 

The  Lyman  School,  which  was  known  until  four  years 
ago  as  the  State  Reform  School,  was  established  —  as  Mr. 
De  Forest  has  already  stated  —  in  1846.^  In  that  year  the 
Legislature  authorized  a  commission  "  to  select  and  ob- 
tain, by  gift  or  purchase,"  a  site  for  a  manual  labor 
school  for  juvenile  offenders,  and  authorized  the  Governor 
to  draw  his  warrant  for  a  sum  not  exceeding  $10,000,  to 
defray  the  expenses.    This  novel  idea  —  that  the  State,  as 

1  See  p.  229. 


THE   LYMAN   SCHOOL.  399 

a  body  politic,  should  undertake  the  reformation,  rather 
than  merely  the  punishment,  of  youthful  offenders  — won 
the  sympathy  and  support  of  many  earnest  and  philan- 
thropic persons.  Among  them  was  the  Hon.  Theodore 
Lyman,  of  Brookline,  who,  deeming  the  appropriation  in- 
sufficient for  the  object  contemplated,  gave  $ro,ooo  to- 
wards the  general  expenses.  In  the  fall  of  1846  the  Board 
of  Commissioners  —  which  consisted  of  Alfred  Dwight  Fos- 
ter, Robert  Rantoul,  and  Samuel  H.  Walley,  Jr.  —  pur- 
chased, with  General  Lyman's  gift,  the  Peters  farm,  on  the 
north  side  of  Lake  Chauncy,  in  VVestborough.  In  1848 
General  Lyman  provided  money  for  buying  additional 
land,  and  also  made  another  donation  of  $ro,coo.  At  his 
death,  in  1849,  he  left  $50,000  for  the  institution, —  making 
a  total  contribution  of  $72,000.  So  persistently  had  he 
enjoined  secrecy,  and  so  well  had  the  secret  been  kept, 
that  "  it  was  only  when  he  was  beyond  the  reach  of  human 
flattery  or  praise  that  the  friends  of  the  institution  were 
apprised  to  whose  great  heart  and  generous  hand  they 
were  indebted  for  its  success," 

The  original  building  was  erected,  at  a  cost  of  $52,000, 
in  1848.  It  had  accommodations  for  three  hundred  boys. 
At  the  end  of  the  first  year  the  inmates,  widely  differing  in 
age  and  length  of  sentence,  numbered  three  hundred  and 
ten.  The  institution  from  the  outset  was  overcrowded.  In 
1852  the  Legislature  authorized  an  enlargement  to  accom- 
modate two  hundred  and  fifty  boys.  The  expense  was 
$54,000.  At  the  close  of  1855  the  number  of  inmates  was 
five  hundred  and  fifty-nine,  and  the  average  age  twelve 
years  and  six  months.  The  number  remained  about  the 
same  until  1859,  In  the  summer  of  that  year  one  of  the 
inmates   set  fire  to  the   institution,   and    it  was   partially 


400  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

destroyed.  The  loss  was  about  $50,000.  This  event,  un- 
fortunate as  it  seemed,  had  a  material  effect  upon  the  char- 
acter of  the  institution.  During  the  first  half  of  the  decade 
already  sketched,  according  to  the  Report  of  the  Trustees 
for  1876,  "there  was  a  school  of  three  hundred  boys,  occu- 
pying a  common  yard  and  sitting  at  a  common  table ;  in 
the  second  half,  a  school  of  twice  the  number,  having  two 
yards  for  play  and  two  dining-rooms :  but  there  was  no 
classification  of  the  boys  according  to  character,  and  the 
system  known  as  'the  congregate  system'  alone  prevailed. 
But  the  fire  furnished  the  opportunity,  as  the  reformation 
of  the  boys  had  previously  the  demand,  for  a  separation 
of  the  inmates  into  classes."  In  pursuance  of  this  plan, 
the  Legislature,  following  the  urgent  recommendations  of 
Governor  Banks,  authorized  the  purchase  of  a  ship,  popu- 
larly known  as  "  the  school-ship,"  for  the  more  hardened 
offenders.  It  also  authorized  the  re-arrangement  of  a 
portion  of  the  school  into  family  groups  of  about  thirty 
boys  each,  and  reduced  the  maximum  age  of  commit- 
ment to  fourteen  years.  The  new  buildings  were  dedicated 
October  10,  i860. 

In  July,  i860,  fifty  boys  were  transferred  to  the  school- 
ship  "  Massachusetts."  The  courts  sentenced  the  older 
offenders  to  the  ship,  and  the  average  age  of  boys  com- 
mitted to  the  Reform  School  was  reduced  to  eleven  years. 
In  1865  the  State  purchased  another  school-ship,  larger 
than  the  "  Massachusetts,"  and  named  it  in  honor  of 
George  M.  Barnard,  who  contributed  $5,000  towards  its 
purchase.  The  school-ships,  however,  were  sold  after  a 
few  years,  older  boys  were  again  sentenced  to  the  Reform 
School,  and  in  1873  the  average  age  of  commitment  had 
risen  to  fifteen  years.     The  effect  was  disheartening.     "  It 


THE   LYMAN   SCHOOL.  4OI 

is  now  several  years,"  said  the  Trustees  in  their  Report  for 
1873,  "  since  the  adoption  of  a  policy  by  which  the  char- 
acter of  the  institution  has  been  gradually  changing,  —  by 
which  it  is  losing  its  character  as  a  Reform  School  for 
Boys  and  becoming  a  place  of  confinement  for  criminals." 
They  protested  vigorously  against  the  evils  arising  from 
the  contact  of  the  older  and  more  vicious  with  the  younger 
boys,  but  with  no  other  effect  than  the  appropriation  of 
$90,000  in  1875,  and  $25,000  in  1876,  for  the  erection  and 
furnishing  of  additional  buildings.  In  1884  the  maximum 
age  of  commitment  was  reduced  from  seventeen  to  fifteen 
years.  The  number  of  boys,  from  this  cause  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  establishment  of  a  reformatory  at  Concord, 
became  smaller,  and  in  April,  1885,  —  the  Legislature 
having  transferred  the  buildings  for  use  as  an  insane  hos- 
pital, —  the  school  was  moved  to  Willow  Park.  There 
were  at  this  time  about  one  hundred  inmates.  Their  new 
home,  beautifully  situated  on  the  southerly  slope  of  a 
commanding  hill,  is  unsurpassed  as  the  site  of  a  public 
institution.  Here  the  State  erected  new  buildings  admi- 
rably adapted  to  the  new  conditions.  The  name  of  the 
school  was  changed  to  "  The  Lyman  School  for  Boys." 
In  their  Report  for  1887  the  Trustees  said:  — 

"  It  is  now  two  years  since  the  old  Reform  School  at  West- 
borough  was  reorganized  into  the  Lyman  School  and  established 
in  its  present  quarters.  The  reorganization  consisted  in  more  than 
a  change  in  location.  The  old  congregate  system,  with  its  rule  of 
bolts  and  bars,  was  changed  into  the  family  system  in  open  houses, 
and  the  age  of  admission  limited  at  fifteen  instead  of  seventeen, 
as  previously.  .  .  .  The  school  now  consists  of  a  farm  of  ninety- 
nine  acres,  on  which  stand  farm  buildings  and  four  houses,  entirely 
apart  from  each  other.  A  family,  consisting  of  master,  matron,  teach- 
ers, laundress,  and  about  twenty-five  boys,  live  in  each  house.    Boys 


402 


LATER   HISTORY  OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


of  separate  families  are  allowed  to  have  no  intercourse.  They  work 
when  out  of  doors,  each  family  under  the  supervision  of  its  own  mas- 
ter ;  and  each  house  has  its  own  playground.  The  boys  rise  at  five, 
have  an  hour  in  school  from  half-past  five  to  half-past  six,  then  break- 
fast, and  work  at  housework,  or  on  the  farm,  or  in  shops,  from  seven 
to  half-past  eleven.  Dinner  is  at  twelve.  From  one  to  half-past 
two  is  work  again,  then  recreation  for  half  an  hour,  and  school 
from  three  to  six ;  after  that,  supper,  recreation,  and  prayers,  and 
bed-time  at  eight  o'clock.  In  winter  they  get  up  at  half-past  five 
instead  of  five.  Thus  the  division  of  the  day  is  six  hours  for  work, 
four  for  school,  five  for  meals  and  recreation,  and  nine  for  sleep. 
The  housework  is  done  entirely  by  the  boys,  the  officers  doing  lit- 
tle but  supervise  ;  and  the  prevailing  order  and  cleanUness,  and  the 
cheerful  faces  of  the  little  workers,  are  always  pleasant  to  see.  The 
boys  are  as  efficient  in  the  laundry  and  sewing-rooms  as  in  the 
kitchen.  During  the  year,  108,778  pieces  have  been  washed  and 
ironed,  and  15,646  garments  have  been  made  in  the  sewing-room, 
besides  much  mending.  Eight  or  nine  boys  are  usually  employed 
in  the  inside  work.  They  prefer  it  to  out-door  work,  and  consider 
it  a  place  of  honor.  But  no  boys  are  kept  at  inside  work  for  more 
than  three  months." 


In  1888,  the  Wilson  farm  was  purchased,  and  the  house 
was  refitted  for  another  family  of  boys.  This  estate,  sit- 
uated on  the  main  road  from  Westborough  to  North- 
borough,  adjoined  the  Lyman  School  farm.  Another 
building,  for  which  the  appropriation  was  $16,000,  is  now 
being  erected.  The  number  of  boys  at  the  institution, 
June  I,  1890,  was  one  hundred  and  ninety-four;  the 
number  of  officers,  thirty-seven. 

The  Superintendents  have  been  as  follows 

Allen  G.  Shepherd . 
Luther  H.  Sheldon 
Edmund  T.  Dooley 


William  R.  Lincoln  . 
James  M.  Talcott  .  . 
William  E.  Starr  .  . 
Joseph  A.  Allen  .  . 
Orville  K.  Hutchinson 
Benjamin  Evans      .     . 


1848-1853 

1853-1857 
1857-1861 
1S61-1867 
1S67-1868 
I 868- I 87 3 


Joseph  A.  Allen 
Henry  E.  Swan  .     . 
Theodore  F.  Chapin 


1873-1S78 
I 878-1 880 
1880-188 I 
1881-1885 


^O.  (2-/^:^UU.^9t^^   WZU<fi^yti: 


INSANE  HOSPITAL, 


403 


The  following  Westborough  men  have  served  on  the 
Board  of  Trustees :  — 


Nahum  Fisher    .     .     . 

.     I 847- I 849 

Benjamin  Boynton  .     . 

.     1862-1864 

George  Denny    .     .     . 

.     1847-1851 

Edwin  B.  Harvey   .     . 

.     1873-1878 

Daniel  H.  Forbes    .     . 

.     1851-1854 

Lyman  Belknap  .     .     , 

.     I 878- I 884 

John  A.  Fayerweather 

1856-1859 

Melvin  H.  Walker  .     . 

.     1884- 

The  Westborough  Insane  Hospital,  a  homoeopathic  in- 
stitution, occupies  the  former  site  of  the  Reform  School. 
It  was  incorporated  June  3,  1884.  The  Legislature  directed 
the  transfer  of  the  farm,  comprising  about  two  hundred 
and  seventy-five  acres,  and  the  remodelling  of  the  build- 
ings. On  September  9,  1884,  the  Governor  appointed  the 
following  Board  of  Trustees :  Charles  R.  Codman,  Henry 
S.  Russell,  Lucius  G.  Pratt,  Francis  A.  Dewson,  Archi- 
bald H.  Grimke,  Phoebe  J.  Leonard,  and  Emily  Talbot. 
The  Trustees  selected  as  Superintendent  Dr.  N.  Emmons 
Paine,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.,  who  had  been  four  years  assist- 
ant physician  at  the  Middletown  (N.  Y.)  Hospital,  —  the 
first  homoeopathic  hospital  for  the  insane  in  the  United 
States.  For  making  the  necessary  additions  to  the  in- 
stitution, the  Legislature  authorized  the  expenditure  of 
$150,000;  but  the  plans  were  afterwards  changed,  and  in 
May,  1886,  it  made  an  additional  appropriation  of  ^180,000 
for  completing  and  furnishing  the  buildings.  The  hospital 
was  opened  for  the  reception  of  patients  December  i, 
1886,  when  it  received  about  two  hundred  inmates  from 
the  over-crowded  institutions  at  other  places.  Though 
designed  for  the  accommodation  of  four  hundred  and  five 
patients,  there  has  been  a  large  excess  over  that  number 
since  the  beginning  of  1889.  At  one  time  there  were  five 
hundred  and  seven  inmates.    The  Report  of  Dr.  Paine  for 


404 


LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 


the  year  ending  September  30,  1890,  gives  the  following 
general  statistics :  — 


Patients  in  the  Hospital,  Sept.  30,  18S9 

Admissions  within  the  year 

Whole  number  of  cases  within  the  year 

Discharged  within  the  year 

viz. :  as  recovered 

much  improved 

improved 

unimproved 

Deaths 

Patients  remaining  Sept.  30,  1S90 

viz.:  supported  as  State  patients. . 
"           town         " 
"          private     " 
Number  of  patients  in  the  year 

Daily  average  of  patients 


Males. 

Females. 

196 

307 

^33 

177 

329 

4S4 

131 

174 

49 

55 

26 

50 

18 

29 

II 

14 

27 

26 

198 

310 

70 

88 

III 

1 98 

17 

24 

326 

474 

184.28 

290.41 

Total. 


503 
310 

813 

305 

104 

76 

47 

25 

53 

508 

158 

309 

41 

800 

474.69 


The  present  officers  are  N.  Emmons  Paine,  M.  D.,  super- 
intendent; George  S.  Adams,  M.  D.,  Edward  H.  Wiswall, 
M.  D.,  George  O.  Welch,  M.  D.,  and  Ellen  L.  Keith,  M.  D., 
assistant  physicians ;  Willard  D.  Tripp,  steward.  Frank 
W.  Forbes,  of  Westborough,  is  treasurer.  The  monthly 
pay-roll  contains  upwards  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  names. 


CHAPTER   VIL 

1860-1890. 

PROMINENT   SOCIETIES. 

AMONG  the  institutions  in  Westborough  are  several 
societies  which,  on  account  of  their  age,  size,  or 
object,  deserve  some  atttention  in  a  history  of  the  town. 
The  number  of  benevolent,  social,  literary,  and  other 
organizations,  considering  the  size  of  the  place,  is  un- 
usually large.  In  the  Annual  Report  of  the  Bureau  of 
Statistics  of  Labor  for  1880,  where  careful  attention  was 
given  to  the  social  condition  of  the  various  towns  in 
the  Commonwealth,  Westborough,  sharing  the  distinction 
with  Milford,  stood  first  in  regard  to  social  advantages 
among  the  towns  of  Worcester  County;  and  among  the 
two  hundred  and  fifty-three  towns  and  cities  of  the  State 
which  sent  returns,  it  stood  among  the  fifteen  assigned 
to  the  first  rank  as  "  excellent."  Since  the  publication 
of  this  Report  a  large  number  of  societies  with  widely 
differing  objects  have  been  added  to  the  list. 

The  organization  which  for  many  years  enjoyed  the 
distinction  of  being  the  oldest,  excepting,  of  course,  the 
religious  associations,  was  the  Thief-detecting  Society.  It 
was  formed  March  6,  1839.  On  that  date,  as  its  records 
state,  "  a  respectable  number  of  the  inhabitants  of  West- 
boro'  met  at  the  hotel  of  Dexter  Brigham  to  take 
into  consideration  the  importance  of  forming   a  society 


406  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

for  the  detection  of  thieves  and  the  recovery  of  stolen 
property."  The  directors  of  the  society  were  authorized 
to  offer  rewards ;  and  there  was  a  "  detecting,  or  pursu- 
ing, committee "  to  follow  and  capture  thieves.  Nahum 
Fisher  was  the  first  president,  and  Milton  M.  Fisher  the 
first  clerk.  Before  the  days  of  the  railroad  and  the  tele- 
graph, when  the  country  was  thinly  settled,  the  organi- 
zation was  very  serviceable  in  recovering  stolen  property; 
but  the  improved  means  of  communication  long  since  de- 
prived the  society  of  its  original  usefulness.  Its  roll  of 
membership  contains  one  hundred  and  forty-four  names. 
In  1887,  making  a  praiseworthy  effort  to  keep  abreast 
of  the  times,  it  changed  its  name  to  "  The  Westborough 
Park  Association,"  and  instead  of  chasing  thieves,  made 
the  purchase  of  a  public-pleasure  ground  its  object.  The 
officers  are  as  follows :  President,  Dr.  Francis  E.  Corey ; 
vice-president,  M.  Oilman  Davis  ;  clerk,  William  A.  Reed  ; 
treasurer,  Charles  S.  Henry ;  trustees,  George  O.  Brigham, 
Edwin  Bullard,  and  Alden  L.  Boynton.  The  society  has 
about  sixty  members.  The  amount  in  its  treasury  is  over 
four  hundred  dollars. 

A  close  second  to  the  Thief-detecting  Society  in  age 
was  the  Westborough  Agricultural  Society,  the  origin  of 
which  —  in  1839  —  has  already  been  mentioned  by  Mr. 
De  Forest.^  Its  founders,  as  the  records  declare,  were 
"  convinced  that  a  society  of  agriculturalists  can  more 
easily  as  well  as  more  expeditiously  than  individuals  col- 
lect and  distribute  such  information  as  cannot  but  tend 
to  increase  the  products  and  improve  the  soil."  The 
original  signers  of  the  constitution,  twenty-seven  in  num- 
ber, were  as  follows :  — 

1  See  p.  228. 


PROMINENT   SOCIETIES.  40/ 

Lovett  Peters,  Nahum  Fisher, 

Elmer  Brigham,  Elijah  Brigham, 

James  Leach,  Charles  B.  Parkman, 

George  Denny,  Abijah  Stone, 

Jabez  G.  Fisher,  Jonathan  Forbes, 

Holway  Brigham,  Sanford  Ruggles, 

Luke  Blake,  Samuel  Chamberlain, 

S.  Deane  Fisher,  Hartwell  Bullard, 

Otis  Brigham,  Abijah  Wood, 

John  R.  Fay,  Asa  Sherman, 

Nathan  E.  Fisher,  George  O.  Brigham, 

Ephraim  T.  Forbes,  John  A.  Fayerweather, 

Aaron  Sherman,  Charles  P.  Rice, 
Josiah  Brigham. 

The  society  holds  frequent  meetings  for  the  discussion 
of  agricultural  topics,  and  also,  at  intervals  of  one  or  two 
years,  fairs  for  the  exhibition  of  stock  and  produce.  Its 
fifty  years  of  valuable  service  seems  in  no  way  to  have 
decreased  its  usefulness  and  vigor. 

Another  society,  which  is  well  supported  by  farmers 
and  their  families,  is  the  Westborough  Grange,  No.  ii6, 
Patrons  of  Husbandry.  Its  object  is  both  social  and  edu- 
cational. It  was  instituted  some  six  years  ago,  and  has 
a  membership  of  one  hundred  and  thirty. 

Among  the  literary  associations  in  Westborough,  none 
has  been  more  prominent,  and  none  has  done  more  for 
the  good  of  the  town,  than  the  Westborough  Young  Men's 
Debating  Society.  Though  it  is  now  apparently  nearing 
its  end,  its  record  has  been  too  creditable  to  pass  unno- 
ticed. The  society  was  organized  December  29,  1870,  with 
a  membership  of  seventeen  young  men.  Its  object  was 
to  train  its  members  in  parliamentary  practices  and  to 
give  them  experience   in  debate    and   literary  exercises. 


408  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

The  meetings  were  held  every  Monday  evening  from  Oc- 
tober to  June.  A  "  public  debate  "  was  generally  held  at 
the  first  meeting  in  every  month,  and  for  many  years 
attracted  a  large  audience.  A  paper,  known  as  TJie  Uni- 
versal Disputant,  added  spice  to  the  other  exercises  on 
these  occasions.  The  society  had  a  library  of  a  hundred 
and  fifty  volumes.  A  good  part  of  it  was  tlie  gift  of  Dr. 
William  Curtis,  a  staunch  friend  of  the  society,  who  left 
at  his  death  a  legacy  of  two  hundred  dollars  for  its  ben- 
efit. The  society's  roll  of  membership  contains  the  names 
of  over  two  hundred  young  men,  many  of  whom  are  now 
achieving  eminence  in  the  pulpit,  at  the  bar,  and  in  poli- 
tics, where  their  early  training  in  the  Debating  Society  is 
showing  its  value.  For  many  years  the  society  conducted 
a  course  of  lectures  and  entertainments  in  the  Town  Hall. 
Under  its  auspices  have  appeared  Wendell  Philhps,  Wil- 
liam Parsons,  Archibald  Forbes,  Schuyler  Colfax,  Mary 
A.  Livermore,  De  Witt  Talmage,  and  other  eminent  lec- 
turers. The  society's  annual  dramatic  entertainment  was 
a  feature  of  the  season,  and  its  annual  reunion  was  always 
an  enjoyable  and  successful  event.  The  organization,  how- 
ever, was  encroached  upon  by  many  newer  societies.  It 
has  recently  given  up  its  rooms  and  sold  its  furniture. 

Another  society  which  formerly  flourished  was  the  West- 
borough  Reform  Club.  It  was  organized  August  7,  1876, 
for  the  purpose  of  assisting  in  the  reform  of  those  who  were 
addicted  to  the  use  of  intoxicating  liquors,  and  to  arouse 
public  sentiment  to  a  realizing  sense  of  the  evils  of  intem- 
perance. During  its  earlier  years  the  club  made  a  vigor- 
ous fight  against  the  liquor  traffic.  To  the  agitation  which 
it  caused  is  due  much  of  the  peace  and  prosperity  of 
Westborough  at  the  present  time.     The  club  held  many 


PROMINENT   SOCIETIES.  409 

meetings  for  the  discussion  of  the  "  rum  question,"  and 
entertained  many  of  the  famous  temperance  agitators  of 
the  day.  Mrs.  Malloy,  of  Illinois,  the  well-known  lec- 
turer, was  a  valuable  assistant  of  the  organization  in  its 
earlier  struggles.  The  Reform  Club  has  gradually  died 
out,  though  not  on  account  of  indifference  towards  the 
temperance  question. 

In  addition  to  temperance  societies  in  the  churches, 
there  is  at  present  the  Welcome  Lodge,  No.  150,  In- 
dependent Order  of  Good  Templars.  Its  rooms  are  in 
Grand  Army  Block.  The  lodge  was  instituted  March  9, 
1883,  and  has  about  seventy  members. 

The  most  prominent  secret  societies,  it  is  perhaps  need- 
less to  say,  are  the  Odd  Fellows  and  the  Masons.  The 
former  were  the  first  to  obtain  a  foothold  in  Westborough. 
Hockomocko  Lodge,  No.  79,  I.  O.  O.  F.,  was  instituted 
July  15,  1845.  Meetings  were  held  for  some  time  in  the 
third  story  of  the  "Old  Arcade,"  but  March  9,  1847,  the 
Lodge  gave  up  its  charter.  It  was  re-instituted  March 
II,  1875.  From  1875  to  1880  its  meetings  were  held  in 
Masonic  Hall.  In  the  latter  year  its  quarters  in  Daven- 
port's Block  were  completed  and  dedicated.  The  mem- 
bership of  the  Lodge  is  over  two  hundred.  Connected 
with  it  is  the  Hockomocko  Relief  Association,  established 
March  27,  1882,  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  members  in 
case  of  sickness,  and  their  families  in  case  of  death.  Its 
membership  is  about  one  hundred.  Laurel  Degree  Lodge, 
No.  44,  Daughters  of  Rebecca,  —  a  society  for  the  wives, 
daughters,  and  sisters  of  Odd  Fellows,  —  was  instituted 
March  11,  1885.    Its  membership  is  one  hundred  and  fifty. 

Siloam  Lodge,  Free  and  Accepted  Masons,  was  insti- 
tuted in  1866.     For  two  years  its  rooms  were  in  the  old 


410  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

Union  Block,  but  since  1869  it  has  occupied  half  of  the 
third  story  of  Post-Office  Block.  It  has  one  hundred  and 
thirteen  members.  Bethany  Chapter,  No.  13,  Order  of  the 
Eastern  Star,  which  is  composed  of  Masons  and  members 
of  their  families,  was  instituted  March  9,  1883.  Its  mem- 
bers number  one  hundred  and  seventeen. 

Division  No.  20,  Ancient  Order  of  Hibernians,  which 
has  a  membership  of  about  sixty,  was  instituted  April  9, 
1875.  Its  rooms  are  in  the  upper  story  of  the  building 
occupied  by  D.  S.  Dunlap  &  Son. 

The  Village  Improvement  Society  was  organized  Novem- 
ber 8,  187S,  with  the  following  officers  :  President,  George 
O.  Brigham;  vice-presidents,  John  A.  Fayerweather  and 
George  N.  Smalley ;  secretary,  John  W.  Brittan  ;  treasurer, 
Charles  S.  Henry.  It  was  modelled  after  the  Laurel  Hill 
Association,  of  Stockbridge,  a  full  account  of  which  was 
given  in  Scribner's  Magazine,  May,  1877.  Its  object,  as 
stated  in  tlie  constitution,  is  as  follows :  — 

"  The  object  of  this  association  shall  be  to  improve  and  orna- 
ment the  streets  and  public  grounds  of  the  village  by  planting  and 
cultivating  trees,  establishing  and  maintaining  walks,  grading  and 
draining  roadways,  establishing  and  protecting  good  grass-plots 
and  borders  in  the  streets  and  public  squares,  securing  a  proper 
public  supply  of  water,  establishing  and  maintaining  such  sewerage 
as  shall  be  needed  for  the  best  sanitary  condition  of  the  village, 
providing  public  fountains  and  drinking-troughs,  breaking  out  paths 
through  the  snow,  lighting  the  streets,  encouraging  the  formation 
of  a  library  and  reading-room,  and  generally  doing  whatever  may 
tend  to  the  improvement  of  the  village  as  a  place  of  residence." 

The  town  has  attended  to  many  of  these  matters,  but 
the  society  has  found  ample  field  for  its  exertions.  The 
reports  of  the  treasurer  show  that  over  two  thousand  dol- 


INSURANCE   ORDERS.  4II 

lars  has  been  expended  for  improvements.  Among  the 
society's  most  important  work  have  been  the  setting  out 
of  nine  hundred  shade-trees  in  different  parts  of  the  town, 
the  erection  of  a  fountain  in  front  of  the  Soldiers'  Monu- 
ment, the  grading  and  fencing  of  the  triangles  at  the  junc- 
tion of  School  and  South  Streets  and  at  the  junction  of 
Church  and  Milk  Streets,  and  the  placing  of  drinking- 
fountains  in  the  Square  and  at  the  head  of  School  Street. 
Perhaps  more  important  than  all  is  its  success  in  arousing 
interest  in  the  subject  of  local  improvements  and  in 
stimulating  citizens  to  individual  exertions. 

The  past  few  years  have  seen  the  organization  of  many 
insurance  orders.    At  present  six  of  them  are  represented 
.in  Westborough,  as  follows:  — 

Parkman  Council,  No.  297,  Royal  Arcanum,  instituted  in  1879, 
has  sixty-eight  members. 

Westborough  Lodge,  No.  91,  Order  of  United  Working-men, 
instituted  October  26,  1SS7,  has  fifty  members. 

Chauncy  Lodge,  No.  130,  Fraternal  Circle,  instituted  July  11, 
1889,  has  thirty-five  members. 

Westborough  Lodge,  No.  24,  Order  of  JEgis,  instituted  Septem- 
ber 21,  1889,  has  about  twenty  members. 

Arcadian  League,  No.  11,  American  Protective  League,  insti- 
tuted in  1889,  has  one  hundred  and  six  members. 

Mount  Pleasant  Commandery,  No.  13,  Order  of  the  Golden 
Grail,  instituted  June  14,  1890,  has  forty-four  members. 

There  was  a  post  of  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic, 
known  as  John  Sedgwick  Post,  No.  21,  G.  A.  R.,  organized 
in  Westborough,  September  24,  1867.  It  was  named  in 
honor  of  the  gallant  General  SedgAvick,  Commander  of  the 
Sixth  Corps,  who  fell  at  Spottsylvania.  The  Post  existed 
about  four  years.      On  June   18,   1881,  the  present  orga- 


412  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

nization,  Arthur  G.  Biscoe  Post,  No.  80,  G.  A.  R.,  was 
formed,  with  fifty-one  charter  members.  It  was  named  in 
honor  of  a  comrade  in  the  ranks,  afterwards  a  prominent 
■Westborough  lawyer,  who  served  in  Company  E,  Fifty- 
first  Regiment,  M.  V.  M.  The  membership  of  the  Post  is 
one  hundred  and  twenty-three.  It  has  excellent  rooms  in 
the  new  Grand  Army  Block  on  South  Street.  Its  relief 
fund  amounts  to  about  twenty-three  hundred  dollars. 

The  Woman's  Relief  Corps,  an  auxiliary  organization, 
was  formed  January  i,  1887.  Its  membership  is  about 
one  hundred. 

The  Frank  L,  Stone  Encampment,  No.  "j^,  Sons  of 
Veterans,  named  after  Dr.  Stone  of  Westborough,  was 
organized  May  12,  1887.  It  has  a  membership  of 
thirty-six. 

Of  the  "  labor  organizations "  in  Westborough,  the 
largest,  oldest,  and  most  prominent  is  the  Westborough 
Assembly,  4,191,  Knights  of  Labor.  It  was  organized 
September  9,  1884.  Its  membership  at  one  time  was  over 
seven  hundred,  but  at  present  it  is  less  than  three  hundred. 
The  Assembly  has  over  a  thousand  dollars  in  its  treasury. 
Connected  with  the  Knights  of  Labor  in  a  league,  offen- 
sive and  defensive,  is  the  New  England  Lasters'  Protective 
Union.  This  organization  has  a  strong  and  well-organized 
branch  in  Westborough.  It  was  formed  August  10,  1887, 
and  has  nearly  a  hundred  members.  A  branch  of  the 
Boot  and  Shoemakers'  International  Union,  which  has  at 
present  two  hundred  members,  has  recently  been  organ- 
ized. There  has  been  comparatively  little  trouble  in 
Westborough,  it  may  be  well  to  add,  between  the  manu- 
facturers and  their  employees. 

The  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  was  organized 


BOARD   OF  TRADE.  413 

August  8,  1888,  with  the  following  officers:  Winfield 
P.  Porter,  president;  G.  Milton  Fisher,  vice-president; 
Charles  B.  Tewksbury,  secretary;  and  Charles  H.  Howard, 
treasurer.  Its  object,  as  stated  in  the  constitution,  is  "  the 
improvement  of  the  spiritual,  mental,  social,  and  physical 
condition  of  young  men."  Winfield  P.  Porter  is  the 
general  secretary.  There  are  over  a  hundred  members. 
The  Association  has  pleasant  rooms  in  Grand  Army 
Block.  It  has  a  library  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  volumes. 
The  reading-room  is  well  supplied  with  papers,  and  the 
amusement  room  with  games.  The  Association  con- 
ducts a  course  of  lectures  and  entertainments  each  winter. 
Among  the  presents  which  it  has  received  is  the  income 
of  $1,000  from  the  late  William  R.  Gould.  The  Aux- 
iliary Association,  which  was  formed  May  24,  1889,  has 
one  hundred  and  seventy  members. 

The  Westborough  Board  of  Trade  succeeded  the  Busi- 
ness Men's  Association,  organized  May  10,  1886,  which 
had  failed  to  meet  the  expectations  of  its  founders.  It 
was  formed  January  27,  1890.  Its  object,  as  stated  in  the 
constitution,  is  as  follows:  — 

"  The  object  of  the  association  shall  be  to  encourage  and  pro- 
mote the  growth  of  manufactures  and  other  industries  within  the 
town  of  Westborough ;  to  acquire,  preserve,  and  disseminate  in- 
formation regarding  the  industrial  advantages,  opportunities,  and 
developments  of  the  town  and  vicinity ;  and  to  assist  in  all  lawful 
and  honorable  ways  in  the  cultivation  of  a  spirit  of  harmonious 
progress,  and  a  disposition  to  intelligent  co-operation  on  the  part 
of  all  citizens  for  whatever  will  conduce  to  the  general  interest  and 
welfare  of  the  community." 

The  Board  of  Trade  has  eighty-three  members.  Its 
officers  are  as  follows:  President,  Melvin  H.  Walker;  vice- 


414  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

president,  Bowers  C.  Hathaway;  secretary,  Eugene  E. 
Dunlap ;  treasurer,  Frank  V.  Bartlett.  There  are  stand- 
ing committees  on  manufactures,  railroad  matters,  trade, 
reception,  soHciting  and  advertising,  and  sanitation. 

The  Westborough  Historical  Society  is  one  of  the  re- 
cent organizations.  It  was  incorporated  February  28, 
1889,  with  twenty- three  charter  members.  The  present 
membership  is  about  forty.  The  following  officers  have 
served  since  the  Society  was  organized :  President,  John 
A.  Fayerweather ;  vice-president,  Benjamin  B.  Nourse; 
secretary  and  treasurer,  Charles  S.  Henry;  directors, 
William  T.  Forbes,  Edward  C.  Bates,  and  Abbie  F.  Judd. 
The  object  of  the  organization  is  "  the  investigation  of 
matters  of  local  history,  the  collection  of  objects  of  his- 
torical and  scientific  interest,  and  the  maintenance  of  a 
library."  The  Society  has  already  acquired  many  inter- 
esting relics,  and  as  soon  as  it  has  secured  proper  quarters 
it  is  expected  that  its  collection  will  show  rapid  growth. 


CHAPTER    VIII. 

1876-1890. 

WATERWORKS.  —  PHENOMENA.  — NEW  BULDINGS.  —  OTHER 
IMPROVEMENTS. 

THE  most  important  of  the  public  improvements 
which  have  marked  the  past  fifteen  years  was  the 
introduction  of  Sandra  water  in  1879.  For  a  dozen  years 
or  more,  the  need  of  a  better  supply  of  water,  especially 
for  fire  purposes,  had  frequently  been  brought  to  the 
attention  of  the  town;  but  the  first  record  of  any  public 
action  is  in  the  report  of  a  town-meeting  held  August  i, 
1870.     The  tenth  article  in  the  warrant  read  as  follows: 

"  To  see  if  the  town  will  take  any  measures  to  obtain  water  from 
Mr.  Christopher  Whitney's  hill,  or  any  other  source  more  practi- 
cable, for  the  use  of  the  village,  or  act  anything  thereon." 

The  matter  was  referred  to  the  engineers  of  the  fire 
department,  but  no  further  action  resulted.  The  burning 
of  Union  Block,  April  14,  1872,  again  brought  the  subject 
into  prominence.  At  a  meeting  held  May  20,  1872,  there 
was  an  article  in  the  warrant  to  see  if  the  town  would  take 
measures  to  introduce  water  from  outside  the  centre  of  the 
village.  It  was  voted  that  the  selectmen,  —  Daniel  F. 
Newton,  William  M.  Child,  and  B.  Alden  Nourse,  —  with 
Charles  H.  Pierce  and  Sherman  Converse,  be  a  committee 
to  investigate  the  subject.    At  an  adjourned  meeting,  June 


41 6  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

17,  the  selectmen  were  instructed  to  petition  the  Legisla- 
ture at  its  next  session  for  authority  "  to  bring  water  from 
any  of  the  streams  or  ponds  within  the  limits  of  the  town ;  " 
and  the  committee  previously  chosen  were  authorized  to 
expend  a  sum  not  exceeding  five  hundred  dollars  in 
further  investigation. 

The  petition  of  the  selectmen  was  duly  presented  to  the 
Legislature,  and  an  Act  was  passed,  —  approved  March 
1 5'   1873,  —  granting  the  desired  authority. 

The  committee  chosen  May  20,  1872,  issued  a  printed 
report,  in  which  the  whole  matter  of  a  water-supply  was 
thoroughly  and  ably  discussed.  The  engineer,  Charles 
H.  Pierce,  recommended  Sandra  Pond  and  Jackstraw 
Brook  as  the  best  source  of  supply.  So  strong  was  the 
opposition  at  the  town-meeting,  April  11,  1873,  that  be- 
sides accepting  the  Act  of  the  Legislature,  no  action  was 
taken.  At  a  later  meeting,  July  2,  —  shortly  after  the  dis- 
astrous fire  on  South  Street,  —  the  town  chose  as  water 
commissioners  Reuben  Boynton  for  three  years,  Sherman 
Converse  for  two  years,  and  Josiah  Childs  for  one  year, 
and  instructed  them  to  prepare  and  report  a  plan  for  a 
better  supply  of  water  for  fire  purposes.  At  an  adjourned 
meeting,  July  30,  the  commissioners  submitted  two  plans. 
Neither  was  satisfactory  to  the  town.  The  wisdom  of  intro- 
ducing water  for  fire  purposes  only  was  generally  doubted, 
and  received  little  support  from  the  commissioners. 

During  the  two  following  years  various  plans  were  pro- 
posed, but  no  important  action  was  taken  until  July  8, 
1875,  when  the  broad  question  of  a  water  supply  for  all 
purposes  came  before  the  town.  After  another  long  dis- 
cussion, the  commissioners  —  Reuben  Boynton,  Sherman 
Converse,   and  George  N.   Smalley  —  were  instructed  to 


WATERWORKS.  417 

procure  the  services  of  a  competent  engineer  for  making 
further  surveys  and  estimates.  At  an  adjourned  meet- 
ing, August  4,  the  commissioners  presented  the  report  of 
Phinehas  Ball,  of  Worcester,  the  engineer  whom  they  had 
chosen.  After  considering  all  the  plans,  Mr.  Ball  recom- 
mended Sandra  Pond  and  Jackstraw  Brook, — just  as  Mr. 
Pierce  had  done  in  1873.  The  expense,  according  to  his 
estimate,  would  be  about  $40,000,  The  report  of  the 
commissioners  came  before  the  town  for  action  August 
21;  but  a  motion  to  construct  waterworks  in  accordance 
with  Mr.  Ball's  recommendations  was  laid  on  the  table  by 
a  decisive  vote. 

For  three  years  the  town  took  no  further  action.  The 
subject,  however,  was  frequently  discussed,  and  its  import- 
ance became  more  and  more  manifest.  In  1878  there  was 
a  favorable  opportunity  for  carrying  out  the  project.  Iron 
and  other  materials  were  exceptionally  low,  and  labor  was 
plenty.  At  a  town-meeting  held  September  16,  it  was 
finally  voted,  on  motion  of  George  O.  Brigham,  that 

"  The  water  commissioners  be  and  they  are  hereby  authorized 
and  directed  to  contract  for  the  works  necessary  to  supply  this 
town  with  water  from  Sandra  Pond,  so  called,  substantially  in 
accordance  with  the  plan  of  Chas.  H.  Pierce,  civil  engineer,  which 
I  herewith  present,  with  such  changes  and  modifications  as  may  in 
the  progress  of  the  work  appear  advisable,  provided  the  sum  stipu- 
lated to  be  paid  for  the  same  shall  not  exceed  the  sum  of  $21,000, 
exclusive  of  land  and  water  damages,  and  that  said  water  commis- 
sioners have  full  power  to  take  and  hold  according  to  law,  for  the 
town  of  Westborough,  any  and  all  lands,  waters,  and  water  rights 
which  may  be  necessary  for  the  construction  of  said  works,  and  to 
enable  the  town  to  obtain  the  full  benefit  of  the  77th  chapter  of 
the  Acts  of  the  Legislature  for  the  year  1873,  ^^^  that  said  com- 
missioners have  power  to  perform  such  other  acts  in  the  name  of 


41 8  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

the  town  as  may  be  necessary  to  obtain  the  benefit  of  said  chapter, 
and  that  the  bonds  of  the  town  of  Westborough,  payable  in  thirty 
years  from  this  date,  with  interest  payable  semi-annually  at  the  rate 
of  five  per  cent  per  annum,  to  be  denominated  *  Westborough 
Water  Bonds,'  signed  by  the  town  treasurer  and  countersigned  by 
the  majority  of  the  selectmen,  be  issued  to  an  amount  not  exceed- 
ing in  the  whole  $30,000,  to  pay  for  the  construction  of  said  water 
works  and  land  and  water  damages  connected  therewith,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  provisions  of  said  77th  chapter,  and  the  said  water 
commissioners  and  the  town  treasurer  be  a  committee  for  the  sale 
of  said  bonds,  and  that  said  committee  be  hereby  authorized  to 
sell  said  bonds  in  behalf  of  the  town  at  public  or  private  sale  at 
such  times,  in  such  amounts,  and  for  such  prices  as  the  said  com- 
mittee may  deem  expedient." 

Mr.  Pierce's  plan,  as  stated  in  his  subsequent  report  to 
the  town,  was  as  follows :  — 

*'  This  scheme  contemplated  putting  Sandra  Pond  in  suitable 
condition  for  present  use  as  a  reservoir ;  constructing  a  gate 
chamber ;  laying  a  leading  main  from  the  reservoir  to  the  junction 
of  South  and  School  Streets,  and  supply  mains  in  South  Street, 
and  in  East  and  West  Main  Streets,  the  latter  extending  from  High 
to  Church  Streets ;  and  setting  the  proper  number  of  hydrants 
upon  the  contemplated  mains.  All  appurtenances  necessary  to 
efficient  service,  both  immediate  and  future,  were  to  be  provided  ; 
and  the  mains  were  to  be  of  sufficient  capacity  to  meet  the  respec- 
tive demands  upon  them  whenever  the  supply  should  be  generally 
extended.  In  short,  the  proposed  work  was  to  be  considered  and 
treated  as  a  part  and  basis  of  a  future  completed  system,  however 
disproportionate  to  immediate  requirements  it  might  seem  to  be." 

The  pond  chosen  for  a  reservoir  is  situated  about  two 
miles  from  the  Square,  in  the  southern  part  of  the  town. 
It  was  formerly  flowed  sufficiently  for  mill  purposes.  The 
present  upper  basin  served  as  a  cranberry- meadow.    Many 


pa 
in 
O 

H 
Q 

O 


WATERWORKS.  419 

persons,  who  "  always  lived  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
pond,"  foreboded  lack  of  water  in  dry  seasons;  but  the 
engineers  made  no  mistake  in  promising  an  abundant 
supply.  The  pond  is  fed  from  a  watershed  of  six  hundred 
and  seventy-five  acres,  providing  in  the  dryest  seasons 
275,000,000  gallons  of  water.  Its  height  above  the  level 
of  the  Square  is  one  hundred  and  thirty-eight  feet. 

The  work  of  putting  the  pond  in  proper  condition  began 
at  once,  and  on  November  23  the  reservoir  was  ready  to 
receive  water.  The  remainder  of  the  work  was  postponed 
until  spring.  On  January  16,  1879,  ^^e  contract,  covering 
material  and  labor  for  mains,  gate,  hydrants,  and  other 
appurtenances,  complete  and  ready  for  service,  —  includ- 
ing a  guarantee  to  maintain  the  integrity  of  their  work  for 
one  year,  —  was  awarded  to  R.  D.  Wood  &  Co.,  of  Phila- 
delphia. The  amount  to  be  paid  was  $14,550.  The  con- 
tractors began  work  April  28,  and  June  20,  when  water 
was  let  into  the  mains  and  the  hydraulic-pressure  test 
applied,  the  undertaking  was  practically  accomplished. 

The  works  had  been  built  at  a  peculiarly  favorable  time. 
The  cost  for  material  and  labor  a  year  later,  according  to 
the  commissioners,  would  have  increased  the  outlay  forty 
per  cent. 

Under  authority  granted  by  the  town  March  3,  1879, 
the  water  commissioners  bought  the  Sandra  farm,  con- 
taining about  thirty-one  acres,  for  $2,374.  The  water 
privileges  bought  amounted  to  $4,248. 7 5 ;  and  the  amount 
of  damages  awarded  was  $14,689.28. 

Some  fault  was  found  with  the  quality  of  the  water 
for  a  year  or  two  after  the  completion  of  the  works.  In 
the  summer  of  1880  it  was  unfit  for  use.  By  vote  of  the 
town,  the  commissioners  drew  off  about  four  fifths  of  the 


420  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

water,  and  cleaned  the  basin  and  margin  of  the  pond. 
The  water  was  again  bad  during  the  hot  weather  of  1882. 
The  commissioners  consulted  a  civil  engineer,  Percy  M. 
Blake,  who  recommended  the  building  of  a  dam  between 
the  upper  and  lower  basins.  The  same  remedy  was  again 
suggested  for  the  scarcity  of  water  in  1886.  Phinehas 
Ball  was  the  engineer  consulted.  In  accordance  with  his 
plans,  a  dam  was  built  between  the  two  basins,  raising  the 
water  in  the  upper  pond  five  feet  above  the  former  high- 
water  mark.  The  result,  with  reference  both  to  the  quan- 
tity and  quality  of  water,  has  been  a  complete  success. 

The  pipes  have  been  extended  in  all  parts  of  the  town. 
The  mains  are  twelve  miles  in  length,  and  the  number  of 
service-pipes  —  supplying  houses,  factories,  and  the  rest 
—  is  over  six  hundred.  There  are  seventy-nine  hydrants. 
The  total  cost  of  the  water  works  is  about  $195,000;  the 
income  has  been  about  $75,000.  The  net  cost  is  therefore 
about  $120,000;  but  this  sum  by  no  means  represents 
the  value  of  the  water  works  in  convenience,  in  protection 
from  fires,  and  in  the  prevention  of  disease. 

On  September  6,  i88t,  the  people  of  New  England 
enjoyed,  or  at  least  experienced,  a  repetition  of  the  phe- 
nomenon which  had  so  impressed  their  forefathers  a  cen- 
tury before.  I  refer  to  the  "yellow"  day.  There  had 
been  great  forest  fires  to  the  north  and  west,  and  smoke 
again  wrapped  this  section  of  the  country  in  a  dense  cloud. 
The  sun  rose  like  an  orb  of  bronze.  Early  in  the  fore- 
noon a  strange  darkness  —  not  merely  making  the  sur- 
roundings dim,  but  giving  everything  a  ghastly,  lurid 
hue  —  began  to  settle  upon  the  earth.  The  efiect  in 
VVestborough  is  described  in  the  following  contemporary^ 
account,  clipped  from  the  Chronotype:  — 


THE   "  YELLOW       DAY,  42 1 

"  The  dark  day  of  1 7S0  has  been  often  spoken  of,  but  the  dark 
day  of  188 1  must  take  its  place  with  it,  and  pass  into  history  as 
a  phenomenon  of  our  time.  So  dark  was  it  that  in  this  and  other 
towns  hereabouts  the  schools  were  dismissed,  and  business  in 
the  manufacturing  establishments  quite  suspended.  Lamps  were 
lighted,  which  had  the  appearance  of  electric  lights.  All  Nature 
seemed  to  put  on  a  new  di'ess,  and  in  some  instances  the  scene 
was  enchanting.  The  air  was  so  still  that  hardly  a  leaf  moved,  and 
the  atmosphere  was  very  oppressive.  The  heavens  seemed  to  have 
donned  a  new  dress,  of  a  greenish  yellow,  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach,  without  a  break  to  relieve  the  monotony.  Astonishment 
was  pictured  on  many  a  countenance,  and  people  were  out  in  all 
directions,  beholding  the  sight  with  great  wonderment.  Various 
were  the  interrogatories  as  people  met  on  the  street,  the  more 
common  being,  '  What  does  all  this  mean  ?  ^  *  Did  you  ever  see 
the  like  before ? '  'Is  the  world  coming  to  an  end ? '  etc.  No 
fully  satisfactory  answer  has  been  given  to  the  question,  'What 
caused  it?'  Many  theories  are  advanced,  but  the  one  generally 
believed  is  that  it  was  because  of  extensive  forest  fires  in  Canada. 
It  is  known  that  on  that  day  a  conjunction  of  the  planet  Uranus 
and  the  sun  took  place,  and  some  attribute  it  to  that  fact.  Others 
thought  the  comet's  tail  had  switched  itself  defiantly  into  the 
world's  face.  The  day  following  was  one  of  intense  heat,  —  such 
heat  as  has  rarely  been  experienced  in  this  latitude.  Whether  the 
one  had  anything  to  do  with  the  other,  is  a  question  for  scientists 
to  decide.  If  so,  then  the  smoke  theory  would  have  to  stand 
aside.  But  whatever  was  the  cause,  it  was  a  remarkable  sight, 
such  as  has  not  been  witnessed  before  by  the  oldest  inhabitant, 
and  probably  will  not  be  again  for  a  long  time  to  come." 

There  have  been  other  occurrences  in  recent  years  that 
deserve  mention.  On  August  lO,  1884,  an  earthquake, 
which  jarred  the  whole  Atlantic  coast,  gave  Westborough 
a  perceptible  shake.  In  the  fall  of  the  same  year  —  owing, 
many  scientists  affirm,  to  volcanic  dust  from  the  eruptions 
at  Krakatau,  near  Java,  during  the  preceding  spring  — 


422  LATER   HISTORY   OF   WESTBOROUGH. 

there  was  a  period  of  the  most  gorgeous  red  sunsets.  On 
March  12,  1888,  and  the  two  following  days,  occurred  the 
great  blizzard,  which  interrupted  communication  by  rail  or 
.wire  and  caused  great  damage  to  property  and  business. 
It  was  even  more  disastrous  than  the  great  storm  of  March 
21,  1868.  The  latter  is  chiefly  memorable  in  West- 
borough  from  the  fact  that  it  required  six  yoke  of  oxen 
to  drag  a  hearse,  mounted  on  an  ox-sled,  from  the  poor- 
farm  to  the  cemetery  in  the  village. 

These  storms,  as  well  as  the  earthquake  and  the  sun- 
sets, were  shared  with  the  outside  world ;  but  on  October 
10,  1884,  the  people  of  Westborough  had  a  phenomenon 
of  their  own,  which  produced  hardly  less  wonder  than  the 
more  general  events.  It  is  remembered  as  "  the  dark 
morning."  A  large  area  of  sprout  and  woodland  in  Cedar 
Swamp  had  been  burning  for  several  days,  and  one  of  its 
results  was  thus  described  by  the  CJironotype :  — 

"  The  smoke  from  the  fires  was  more  or  less  disagreeable  dur- 
ing the  early  part  of  the  week,  particularly  to  sleepers  with  open 
chamber  windows  ;  but  the  height  of  the  calamity  was  reached  on 
Wednesday  morning,  when  even  the  earliest  risers  found  the  vil- 
lage enveloped  in  smoke,  accompanied  by  a  light  fog.  The  sun 
rose  and  shone  on  other  points  in  regal  splendor,  but  nearly  the 
whole  of  our  village  was  even  then  in  total  darkness.  The  old 
saying,  '  Could  n't  see  my  hand  before  me,'  was  almost  literally  true, 
for  a  person  five  feet  away  was  wholly  concealed  by  the  dense 
smoke.  A  familiar  voice  a  few  feet  distant  would  tell  that  an 
acquaintance  was  near,  but  no  one  in  sight.  Milkmen  were  un- 
able to  find  their  customers,  tin-horns  were  used  for  safety-signals, 
but  few  teams  ventured  out,  and  even  at  a  walking  gait  collisions 
occurred.  One  man  lost  his  team,  being  unable  to  find  the  spot 
where  he  had  hitched  his  horse,  and  another  led  his  horse  to  an- 
other man's  barn  on  East  Main  Street,  thinking  it  was  his  own, 


"THE   DARK  MORNING."  423 

that  Stood  half  a  mile  away.  Another  could  not  find  his  boarding- 
house  in  going  from  his  lodging  rooms,  and  still  another  was  lost 
in  front  of  the  VVestborough  Hotel.  The  engineer  of  a  moniing 
down-train  said  he  entered  the  fog  and  smoke  at  the  first  railroad 
bridge  above  the  village,  and  he  then  '  slowed  up  '  and  ran  slowly 
until  passing  into  clear  atmosphere  at  Cordaville.  The  smoke- 
cloud  extended  to  the  north  end  of  the  village,  to  the  Blake  Place 
on  West  Main  Street,  and  on  East  Main  Street  to  Selectman 
Harrington's.  At  8  o'clock  a.  m.  the  mists  began  to  roll  away, 
and  at  8.30  the  bright  sunshine  and  a  summer  atmosphere  heralded 
one  of  the  most  delightful  days  of  the  season.  Throughout  the 
darkness,  in  rooms  with  closed  windows,  the  morning  papers  could 
be  easily  read  without  artificial  light.  With  all  the  great  difficulty 
of  locomotion  outdoors,  there  was  much  fun  in  the  novel  situation 
of  things,  and  no  accidents  occurred." 

Early  in  the  morning  of  April  5,  1886,  occurred  the 
only  disastrous  fire  since  the  introduction  of  Sandra  water. 
Owing  partly  to  the  headway  which  the  fire  had  obtained, 
and  the  combustibility  of  the  buildings,  and  partly  to  the 
smallness  of  the  pipe  which  fed  the  hydrants  in  the  neigh- 
borhood, the  large  shop  on  Milk  Street  and  the  Catholic 
church  were  burned  to  the  ground.  The  loss  was  esti- 
mated at  $42,000. 

The  shop,  which  was  occupied  by  George  B.  Brigham 
&  Sons,  and  Smith,  Brown  &  Co.,  boot  and  shoe  manufac- 
turers, was  owned  by  the  Westborough  Factory  Associ- 
ation. Strenuous  efforts  were  at  once  made,  and  the 
present  building,  occupied  by  Gould  &  Walker,  was  soon 
erected  in  its  place. 

The  destruction  of  the  Catholic  church  hastened  the 
erection  of  the  present  edifice  at  the  corner  of  Main  and 
Ruggles  Streets,  where  a  lot  had  been  purchased  in  1873. 
The  rectory  had  been  built  some  years  before,  and  the 


424  LATER  HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

members  of  the  church  had  long  looked  forward  to  the 
building  of  a  new  house  of  worship.  Shortly  after  the 
fire,  more  land  was  purchased,  and  the  present  gymnasium 
was  fitted  up  for  a  temporary  chapel.  On  August  i, 
1888,  the  corner-stone  of  the  new  church  was  laid,  with 
appropriate  services.  Bishop  Keane,  rector  of  the  Ca- 
tholic University  at  Washington,  delivered  the  sermon. 
Through  the  untiring  energy  of  the  Rev.  John  J.  McCoy 
and  the  faithful  support  of  his  parishioners,  the  building 
was  completed  in  the  spring  of  1889.  The  ceremonies  of 
dedication  —  which  took  place  May  30,  the  Feast  of  the 
Ascension  —  were  conducted  by  the  Rev.  Thomas  Griffin, 
chancellor  of  the  diocese,  assisted  by  a  large  number  of  the 
clergy.  The  Rev.  Father  Griffin,  with  the  Rev.  Edmund 
D.  Casey,  of  WilHamstown,  as  deacon,  and  the  Rev.  Patrick 
Boyle,  of  Beverly,  as  sub-deacon,  celebrated  the  solemn 
high  mass.  The  master  of  ceremonies  was  the  Rev.  J.  F. 
Redican,  of  Cordaville.  The  sermon,  a  forcible  and  effec- 
tive discourse,  based  on  the  first  chapter  of  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  was  delivered  by  the  Rev.  Francis  McCarthy, 
S.  J.,  of  New  York.  The  church  is  a  beautiful  structure. 
Its  design  and  finish  are  admirably  set  forth  in  the  follow- 
ing description  from  The  Messenger :  — 

"  The  church,  though  in  part  a  wooden  structure,  and  on  the 
outside  running  to  simple  architectural  lines,  is  yet  in  its  interior 
finish  a  model  of  massive  strength,  combined  with  exquisite  har- 
mony of  color,  tone,  and  decoration.  Indeed,  so  striking  is  this 
prevailing  tone  of  harmony,  so  perfect  is  each  effect  in  keeping 
with  every  other  and  with  the  whole,  that  one  feels  forced  to  bor- 
row the  words  of  Sir  Walter  Scott  and  describe  the  result  in  its 
still,  harmonious  beauty  as  being  like  frozen  music.  The  church  is 
finished  in  Romanesque  style,  the  prevailing  characteristic  of  which 


CO 

H 

r 
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o 

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a 
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d 

O 

o 


NEW   CATHOLIC   CHURCH.  425 

is  the  rounded  arches  as  distinguished  from  the  pointed  arches  of 
the  Gothic  style.  Two  rows  of  massive  square  columns  divide  the 
church  into  three  aisles.  Each  column  is  surmounted  by  an  ela- 
borate capital  somewhat  resembling  the  Corinthian  in  ornamenta- 
tion ;  from  each  of  these  spring  four  arches,  those  of  the  centre 
aisle  rising  to  an  imposing  height  and  giving  as  one  enters  the 
edifice  an  appearance  of  strength  and  grandeur  that  is  particularly 
striking  and  appropriate.  In  the  spaces  on  the  ceiling  between  the 
main  arches  are  paintings  of  great  beauty  and  unusual  artistic 
merit,  representing  in  the  order  named  :  the  Annunciation,  the 
Nativity  of  our  Lord,  the  Adoration  of  the  Wise  Men,  Christ  bless- 
ing Little  Children,  the  Crucifixion,  and  the  Ascension.  In  the 
sanctuary  on  either  side  of  the  high  altar  are  beautiful  life-size 
paintings  of  the  Last  Supper  and  the  Marriage  Feast  of  Cana  of 
Galilee. 

"  The  frescoing  of  the  church  is  very  fine  and  deserving  of  special 
notice.  In  addition  to  the  paintings  above  mentioned,  the  spaces 
on  the  ceiling  of  the  side  aisles  are  decorated  with  special  and 
appropriate  designs,  emblematic  of  the  sacraments  of  the  Church, 
while  the  walls  and  columns  are  finished  in  soft  tints  of  brown, 
relieved  with  judicious  ornamentation  of  gold  and  lighter  colors. 
The  pews  are  of  a  dark-brown  color  and  are  very  handsome  in 
design,  the  backs  being  of  open  work  of  an  ornamental  character. 

"  The  altars,  three  in  number,  are  very  chaste  and  beautiful,  and 
in  their  rounded  lines  and  subdued  tints  of  cream  and  gold  harmo- 
nize perfectly  with  the  general  character  of  the  sacred  edifice.  The 
high  altar  especially,  with  its  background  of  beautiful  paintings, 
stained  glass  windows  representing  Saint  Cornelius,  Saint  Luke,  and 
Saint  Margaret,  and  the  graceful  lines  of  the  sanctuary,  supported 
by  carved  angelic  figures,  forms  a  picture  that  not  only  satisfies  the 
artistic  perceptions,  but  lifts  the  soul  to  the  contemplation  of  Him 
in  whose  honor  the  beautiful  edifice  has  been  erected  and  to 
whose  service  it  is  now  forever  dedicated  by  the  solemn  ritual  of 
His  Holy  Church. 

"  The  windows  are  of  stained  glass  finely  executed,  and  are 
embellished  with  pictures  of  saints  and  religious  symbols.  The 
windows  are  gifts  to  the  church  from  Rev.  Thomas  Griffin,  Rev. 


426  LATER   HISTORY   OF  WESTBOROUGH. 

J.  J.  McCoy,  Hubbard  Willson,  Patrick  Brady,  Patrick  Murphy, 
John  Dee,  Joseph  Wheeler,  T.  McEnany,  and  other  members  of 
the  congregation.  A  beautiful  sanctuary  lamp  was  presented  by 
ladies  of  Worcester." 

In  addition  to  the  introduction  of  Sandra  water  and  the 
erection  of  new  buildings,  the  past  fifteen  years  have  seen 
numerous  improvements  in  the  appearance  and  condition 
of  the  town.  The  extension  of  concrete  sidewalks,  the 
setting  out  of  hundreds  of  shade-trees,  and  the  better  care 
of  highways,  have  done  much  to  increase  its  attractiveness. 

Since  1887  —  when  the  Westborough  Electric  Light 
Company  was  organized  by  Christopher  Whitney,  William 
T,  Forbes,  Henry  K.  Taft,  George  O.  Brigham,  and  Thomas 
T.  Robinson  —  electric  lights  have  come  into  use  for  light- 
ing the  streets,  the  town  hall,  several  of  the  churches, 
many  stores  and  offices,  and  some  dwellings. 

In  1887,  Dr.  William  Curtis  left  a  legacy  of  $1,000  each 
to  the  town  and  to  the  Catholic  church  for  the  construc- 
tion of  gateways  at  the  entrances  of  Pine  Grove  Cemetery 
and  the  Catholic  Cemetery.  The  work  at  each  place  has 
been  well  performed. 

The  new  buildings  which  have  been  erected,  —  dwell- 
ings, factories,  and  business  blocks,  —  are  for  the  most 
part  ornamental  and  substantial  structures.  The  new 
engine-house,  the  school-house  on  Phillips  Street,  the  new 
home  for  paupers,  and  some  other  buildings  have  already 
been  mentioned.  In  1880,  Alvan  Davenport  erected  his 
four-story  brick  block  on  Summer  Street.  The  Whitney 
House,  erected  by  Christopher  Whitney  in  1881,  is  a  hand- 
some four-story  brick  block,  with  stores  on  the  ground- 
floor  and  hotel  above.  The  town  had  long  felt  the  need 
of  a  new  hotel,  and  Mr.  Whitney's  enterprise  and  public 


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NEW  BUILDINGS.  42/ 

spirit  in  erecting  such  an  excellent  building  deserve  a 
word  of  praise.  In  1882,  Mrs.  M.  L.  Bragg  built  a  three- 
story  wooden  building  next  to  her  residence  on  South 
Street.  Park  Building,  an  excellent  brick  block,  was 
erected  by  Charles  S.  Henry,  in  the  same  year.  C.  D.  Cobb 
&  Co.  erected  their  brick  store-house  on  Milk  Street  in 
1886,  using  the  site  of  an  old  wooden  building,  which 
was  burned  in  188 1.  In  1884,  the  Methodists  erected 
their  excellent  parsonage  at  the  corner  of  Church  and 
Heath  Streets.  Gould's  Block,  on  Milk  Street,  was  erected 
by  William  R.  Gould  in  1887.  In  1888,  John  E.  Day, 
of  Worcester,  removed  the  old  Parker  house  on  South 
Street,  and  erected  Grand  Army  Block  on  the  site.  In 
1889,  he  erected  Curtis  Block  —  three  one-story  stores  — 
on  East  Main  Street.  The  "  Old  Arcade  "  at  last,  after 
a  hundred  and  forty  years  of  service,  has  yielded  to  the 
demands  of  trade.  Alvan  N.  Davenport  is  erecting  on  the 
site  of  the  old  meeting-house  a  handsome  brick  block,  — 
"  Arcade  Building"  it  is  to  be  called,  —  more  ornamental 
and  serviceable,  if  not  more  interesting,  than  the  familiar 
landmark  which  it  displaces. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


I. 

BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES. 

THE  Committee  in  charge  of  the  town  history  have  thought  it 
advisable  to  supplement  the  preceding  pages  with  brief 
sketches  of  citizens  who  have  been  active  in  making  the  town's 
history  what  it  is.  Prominence  in  town  affairs  —  in  both  munici- 
pal and  business  matters  —  has  been  the  general  test  in  making  a 
selection  ;  but  it  is  unavoidable  that  sketches  of  many  worthy  men, 
whom  their  friends  deem  not  less  prominent  than  some  whose 
names  appear,  should  be  omitted.  All  will  agree,  however,  that 
the  men  whose  biographies  are  here  given  deserve  the  honor,  and 
that  sketches  of  their  lives  make  the  history  more  complete. 

Ebenezer  Parkman.  For  an  account  of  the  life  of  the  Rev. 
Ebenezer  Parkman  the  reader  is  referred  to  the  early  pages  of  the 
preceding  history.  His  life  was  too  intimately  interwoven  with 
town  and  ecclesiastical  affairs  to  be  treated  apart  from  them. 

Breck  Parkman.  The  eleventh  child  of  the  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Parkman  was  Breck,  so  called  after  the  family  name  of  his  mother, 
Hannah,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Breck,  of  Marlborough. 
She  was  Mr.  Parkman's  second  wife,  whom  he  had  married  in 
1737.  Breck  was  born  January  27,  1748.  His  youth  was  spent 
in  farming,  and  in  learning  the  carpenter's  trade.  In  1777  he 
married  Susanna,  daughter  of  Col.  Levi  Brigham,  of  Northborough, 
and   soon   afterwards    estabhshed   the   first    village    store.      The 


432  APPENDIX. 

building  which  he  occupied  —  using  one  part  for  his  store,  and 
the  other  for  his  dwelling  —  now  stands  at  the  corner  of  South 
and  Cedar  Streets.  It  originally  stood  between  the  meeting-house 
and  the  parsonage.  Subsequently  Breck  Parkman,  in  company 
with  Elijah  Brigham,  afterwards  prominent  as  a  judge  and  mem- 
ber of  Congress,  built  a  store  on  Main  Street.  The  building 
now  stands  in  the  rear  of  Central  Block.  Afterwards,  their  sons 
having  become  of  age,  the  partnership  was  dissolved,  and  Mr. 
Parkman  built  the  old  structure  on  the  site  of  the  present  Post- 
Office  block.  It  was  known,  until  its  destruction  by  fire  in  1868, 
as  the  "Parkman  Store." 

Breck  Parkman  died  February  3,  1825  ;  his  wife,  Susanna,  died 
November  10,  1834.  Their  children  were  Hannah  Breck,  Susanna 
Brigham,  Charles,  Robert  Breck,  Anna  (or  Nancy),  Mary  Augusta, 
and  Charlotte  Sophia.  The  latter  became  the  wife  of  George 
Denny,  a  prosperous  Boston  merchant  and  the  president  of  the 
Granite  Bank.  He  resided  for  many  years  in  Westborough  on 
the  estate  now  owned  by  the  Rev.  J.  D.  Potter. 

Charles  Parkman.  ■  Charles  Parkman,  the  third  child  and  old- 
est son  of  Breck  and  Susanna  Parkman,  was  born  in  Westborough 
May  26,  1785.  He  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  1803,  and 
entered  his  father's  store  in  Westborough.  On  January  26,  18 10, 
he  was  married  to  Joanna  Phillips  Fay,  daughter  of  Jonathan  Fay, 
Esq.,  of  Concord,  Mass.  She  was  born  October  27,  1784,  and 
died  December  3,  1826.  The  children  of  Charles  and  Joanna 
Parkman  were  Joanna  Fay  (Rising),  Charles  Breck,  Mary  Augusta, 
Lucy  Prescott  (Fisher),  Susan  Brigham,  Hannah  Sophia  (Taft), 
Samuel,  and  Maria  Denny  Parkman  (Leach). 

On  his  father's  death,  in  1825,  Charles  Parkman  succeeded  him, 
and  carried  on  the  store  until  he  died,  September  13,  1834.  He 
was  postmaster  from  the  re-establishment  of  the  post-ofifice  at 
Westborough,  March  16,  1832,  until  his  death.  For  many  years 
he  was  captain  of  the  Light  Infantry  Company.  In  1829  he 
served  as  representative  to  the  General  Court.  From  1816  to  1829 
he  was  treasurer  of  the  town.  In  all  local  matters  he  took  a 
prominent  and  influential  part. 


#' 


#' 


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BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES.  433 

Charles  B.  Parkman.  On  the  death  of  Charles  Parkman,  in 
1834,  his  son  Charles  B.  succeeded  him,  and  carried  on  the  store 
for  a  few  years.  This  son,  who  was  born  in  Westborough  June  13, 
1813,  had  graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  June,  1834,  — about 
three  months  before  his  father's  death.  The  loss  of  his  father 
making  it  necessary  for  him  to  abandon  all  thoughts  of  studying 
for  a  profession,  he  devoted  his  time  to  settling  the  estate.  From 
October  30,  1835,  to  April  23,  1838,  he  was  postmaster  at  West- 
borough.  After  spending  only  a  few  years  in  this  town  he  moved 
West.  He  resided  successively  in  St.  Louis,  among  the  miners  in 
California,  at  Madison,  Ind.,  and  finally  in  Indianapolis.  There  he 
became  secretary  of  the  Indianapolis  RoUing^Mill  Company,  hold- 
ing this  position  for  some  twenty  years  before  his  death,  which 
occurred  June  26,  1885.  Mr.  Parkman  was  an  exceptionally  gen- 
erous and  warm-hearted  man,  with  qualities  that  endeared  him  to 
hosts  of  friends. 

Elijah  Brigham.  Among  the  sons  of  David  Brigham,  one  of 
the  pioneer  settlers,  was  Levi,  who  was  born  in  17 16.  He  mar- 
ried Susanna  Grout,  and  settled  on  the  northern  part  of  his  father's 
extensive  farm.  He  was  a  selectman  of  Westborough  in  1763,  and 
after  the  division  of  the  town  (his  farm  lying  to  the  north  of  the 
dividing  line)  he  held  the  same  office  for  many  years  in  Northbor- 
ough.  Breck  Parkman  married  his  daughter  Susanna.  Levi  Brig- 
ham had  nine  children.  Elijah,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  who 
was  born  July  7,  1751,  was  the  fourth.  He  graduated  from  Dart- 
mouth College  in  1 7  78  and  began  to  study  law.  He  changed  his 
plans  before  being  admitted  to  the  Bar,  and  settled  in  Westborough 
as  a  merchant.  In  1780  he  married  Ann  Sophia,  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  Ebenezer  Parkman.  At  her  death,  three  years  later,  she  left 
two  children,  Anna  Sophia  and  Elijah.  In  1786  Mr.  Brigham  mar- 
ried Mrs.  Sarah  Hammock,  of  Marlborough,  who,  dying  a  year 
later,  left  one  child,  Sally.  His  third  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married 
in  1792,  was  Sarah,  daughter  of  the  famous  patriot,  Gen.  Artemas 
Ward,  of  Shrewsbury.  She  lived  until  1838.  Her  children  were 
Ann  Maria,  who  married  Ebenezer  M.  Phillips,  Sally  Sophronia, 
Dana  Ward,  Susanna  Walter,  and  Catherine  Martha  Brigham. 


434  APPENDIX. 

Mr.  Brigham,  who  is  better  known  from  his  subsequent  title  as 
"Judge  "  Brigham,  took  an  active  part  in  public  affairs.  In  1785, 
and  from  1789  to  1796,  he  served  as  selectman.  He  represented 
Westborough  in  the  Legislature  in  1791  and  1793.  He  also  served 
twelve  years  in  the  Massachusetts  Senate,  and  two  years  on  the 
Governor's  Council.  For  sixteen  years  he  was  a  judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Worcester  County.  He  was  a  mem- 
ber of  Congress  from  18 10  until  his  death,  which  occurred  at  Wash- 
ington, December  22,  1818.  "Of  this  man,"  says  the  Rev.  Abner 
Morse,  in  his  history  of  the  Brigham  family,  "  I  cannot  speak  in 
justice  to  convictions  and  escape  the  suspicion  of  extravagance 
among  strangers,  while  among  his  acquaintance  who  survive,  noth- 
ing would  fail  of  a  hearty  response  which  I  might  say  commenda- 
tory of  his  social  and  domestic  virtues,  his  commercial  integrity 
and  honor,  his  great  common-sense  and  refinement,  his  patriotism 
and  political  integrity,  his  wisdom  and  benevolence,  his  fidelity  to 
every  official  and  important  trust,  and  his  services  in  the  advance- 
ment of  the  moral,  civil,  and  educational  interests  of  the  community 
in  which  he  lived." 

Eli  Whitney,  the  inventor  of  the  cotton-gin,  was  born  in  West- 
borough,  December  8,  1765.  On  the  maternal  side  he  was  de- 
scended from  John  Fay,  one  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  the  town. 
His  paternal  ancestors  were  among  the  most  respectable  farmers  of 
Worcester  County.  In  his  youth  Whitney  displayed  many  indica- 
tions of  mechanical  genius.  Becoming  dissatisfied  with  the  limited 
educational  advantages  of  his  native  town,  in  May,  1 789,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-four,  he  entered  the  freshman  class  at  Yale  College.  He 
graduated  in  1792.  In  the  fall  of  that  year,  having  been  engaged 
as  tutor  in  Georgia,  he  travelled  from  New  York  to  Savannah. 
Among  his  companions  on  the  journey  were  Mrs.  Greene,  the 
widow  of  the  famous  Revolutionary  general,  and  her  family.  On 
arriving  in  Georgia,  Whitney  found  the  place  which  he  expected  to 
occupy  already  filled.  His  friend  Mrs.  Greene  offered  him  a  home 
while  he  was  carrying  out  his  project  of  studying  law.  He  accepted 
her  generous  offer,  and  remained  in  her  family  many  months. 
Shortly  after  his  arrival  —  the  story  is  familiar — his  attention  was 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES.  435 

called  to  the  great  need  of  a  machine  for  separating  seeds  from  the 
cotton  fibre.  The  industrial  progress  of  both  England  and  America 
was  retarded  by  the  lack  of  such  a  contrivance.  Whitney  forsook  his 
law-books,  secured  a  sample  of  cotton,  made  his  own  tools,  and  in 
the  spring  of  1793  had  invented  the  machine  "which,"  it  is  said, 
"  has  done  more  for  cotton-growers,  manufacturers,  commerce,  and 
civilization  than  any  other  one  machine  that  was  ever  invented." 
The  result  upon  the  prosperity  of  the  Southern  States,  in  fact  of 
the  whole  world,  was  marvellous ;  but  the  inventor,  in  spite  of  his 
patent  and  his  heroic  struggles  to  secure  his  rights,  received  for  his 
labors  little  reward.  In  1798,  however,  he  made  a  large  contract 
with  the  United  States  government  for  the  manufacture  of  fire-arms, 
and  in  this  business,  which  he  carried  on  at  Whitneyville,  near  New 
Haven,  he  amassed  considerable  property.  By  ingenious  inventions 
and  processes  he  revolutionized  the  clumsy  mechanical  methods 
of  the  times.  The  "uniformity  system,"  for  example,  which  is  now 
used  in  the  manufacture  of  all  sorts  of  tools  and  machinery,  was 
one  of  his  ideas. 

In  January,  18 17,  Mr.  Whitney  was  married  to  Henrietta  F. 
Edwards,  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Pierrepont  Edwards,  of  New  Ha- 
ven, Conn.  He  had  four  children,  —  three  daughters  and  one  son. 
The  last,  named  after  his  father,  is  still  living.  The  death  of  the 
inventor  occurred  in  1825.  His  body  is  buried  at  New  Haven, 
Conn. 

Mr.  Whitney  was  not  only  one  of  the  greatest  inventors  which 
America  has  produced,  but  also  a  man  of  extremely  mterest- 
ing  and  attractive  life  and  character.  His  career,  which  it  is 
unnecessary  to  describe  more  fully  here,  is  admirably  set  forth 
in  Professor  Denison  Olmsted's  Memoir  of  Eli  Whitney,  Esq., 
published  at  New  Haven  in  1846.  His  great  invention  and  its 
effects  are  described  by  Edward  Craig  Bates  in  "  The  Story  of  the 
Cotton-gin,"  which  appeared  in  The  New  England  Magazine  for 
May,  1890. 

Otis  Brigham,  the  eldest  of  the  nine  children  of  David  and 
Lucy  (Harrington)  Brigham,  was  born  in  1 788.  His  boyhood  was 
spent  upon  his  father's  farm,  near  the  present  Insane  Hospital. 


436  APPENDIX. 

Otis  Brigham  was  engaged  in  farming ;  and  though  his  inclina- 
tions and  endowments  strongly  tempted  him  to  enter  the  ministry, 
he  continued  in  agricultural  pursuits,  "  thinking,  perhaps,"  says  his 
biographer,  "  that  the  words  *  do  good '  had  not  always  been  syno- 
nymous with  '  preach  the  gospel,'  and  that  he  might  do  something 
to  restore  their  former  meaning."  ^  Captain  Brigham  was  prominent 
in  both  church  and  town  affairs.  On  the  establishment  of  a  Sunday- 
school  in  1817  he  became  both  superintendent  and  teacher,  and 
held  these  positions  for  more  than  forty  years.  His  name  is  found 
on  nearly  all  the  important  committees  of  the  church.  In  civil 
affairs  he  was  also  active.  He  served  for  fourteen  years  as 
selectman  and  overseer  of  the  poor ;  for  twenty  years  he  com- 
monly acted  as  moderator  of  the  town-meetings ;  and  during 
two  years,  1839  and  1840,  he  represented  Westborough  in  the 
Legislature. 

Captain  Brigham  served  in  the  War  of  181 2,  and  took  an  active 
part  in  raising  Westborough's  quotas  during  the  Civil  War. 

Captain  Brigham  was  married  to  Abigail  Bates,  daughter  of 
Zealous  Bates,  of  Cohasset,  and  sister  of  the  Rev.  Joshua  Bates, 
D.  D.,  President  of  Middleborough  College.  On  the  death  of 
his  first  wife  he  married  her  sister,  Adeline  Bates.  He  had  ten 
children,  as  follows  :  Henrietta  A.  (widow  of  Samuel  M.  Griggs), 
George  Otis,  Sereno  Leroy,  Ivers  Jewett,  Joshua  Bates,  Abigail 
Adeline  (Hutchinson),  Lucy  Harrington,  Ann  Frances,  Mary  Jane, 
and  Daniel  Edward  Brigham. 

Elmer  Brigham,  a  native  and  life-long  resident,  was  "  a  distin- 
guished citizen  of  Westborough,"  says  the  Rev.  Abner  Morse,  in 
his  history  of  the  Brigham  family,  "  where,  like  his  senior  brother 
[Otis  Brigham],  he  has  long  enjoyed  the  entire  confidence  and 
esteem  of  the  community."  He  was  born  September  8,  1 798. 
His  parents  were  David  and  Lucy  (Harrington)   Brigham. 

He  received  his  education  at  Bradford  Academy,  Bradford, 
Mass.  For  several  years  he  taught  school  in  Westborough 
and  the  neighboring  towns.  He  was  married  to  Betsey,  daugh- 
ter of  Joel    and    Hannah  (Bond)   Parker.      He  carried   on   his 

1  Rev.  Abner  Morse,  in  his  history  of  the  Brigham  family. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.  437 

father's  farm,  near  the  present  Insane  Hospital,  for  several  years, 
but  afterwards  followed  the  occupation  of  farmer  on  his  own 
account. 

He  became  a  member  of  the  church  at  the  age  of  twenty-five ; 
and  from  1848  until  he  resigned,  in  1869,  he  served  the  Evan- 
gelical Church  as  deacon.  During  his  whole  life  he  took  an  active 
part  in  town  affairs.  He  held  many  town  offices  and  served  on 
many  important  committees.  During  three  terms  he  represented 
Westborough  in  the  Legislature.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Senate  and  of  Governor  Gardner's  Council.  In  matters  of  public 
interest  he  always  displayed  commendable  interest,  energy,  and 
integrity. 

Deacon  Brigham  died  in  Westborough  March  3,  18  71. 

The  names  of  his  children  are  as  follows :  Ellen  Elizabeth 
(Hill),  Hannah  Janette  (Howe),  Merrick  Putnam,  Anna  Parker 
(Harrington),  Sophia  Augusta,  Susan  Parker,  Charles  Elmer,  and 
Calvin  Lloyd. 

John  A.  Fayerweather  is  one  of  the  oldest  and  most  promi- 
nent residents  of  Westborough.  He  was  born  March  12,  1808, 
and  is  now,  although  in  his  eighty-third  year,  an  active  and  use- 
ful citizen.  This  is  his  native  town.  His  father,  Major  John 
Fayerweather,  a  man  of  considerable  property,  was  a  prosperous 
farmer.  His  mother,  Sarah  Wheelock,  was  a  daughter  of  Col. 
Moses  Wheelock,  who  was  prominent  in  local  affairs  during 
Revolutionary  days. 

Mr.  Fayerweather  enjoyed  more  than  the  ordinary  educational 
advantages  of  his  day,  having  studied  at  Brown  University  when 
collegiate  education  was  much  rarer  than  now. 

On  returnmg  from  college  he  carried  on  for  a  few  years  his 
father's  farm,  and  in  1833  began  mercantile  life  by  opening  a  store 
in  the  house  now  belonging  to  Elijah  Burnap,  on  West  Main  Street. 
A  year  later  he  started  a  store  and  tin-shop  on  the  site  of  the  Uni- 
tarian Church.  In  1836  he  bought  the  old  Parkman  store,  and 
with  various  changes  in  the  firm,  carried  on  the  business  until 
1858.  For  the  succeeding  five  years  he  was  in  the  wholesale 
grocery  business  in  Boston.      Since  retiring  from  this  enterprise, 


438  APPENDIX. 

Mr.  Fayerweather  has  been  engaged  in  the  insurance  business. 
For  the  past  three  years  he  has  been  president  of  the  Worcester 
Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Company. 

In  addition  to  this  office,  Mr.  Fayerweather  has  held  many  posi- 
tions of  trust  and  influence.  Always  interested  in  agricultural  mat- 
ters, he  has  been  a  member  of  the  Westborough  Agricultural 
Society  since  its  organization,  in  1839,  and  has  served  as  president 
of  the  Worcester  County  Society.  He  has  been  a  representative 
to  the  General  Court,  selectman,  treasurer  of  the  town,  and  over- 
seer of  the  poor.  He  has  been  president  of  the  First  National 
Bank  since  its  incorporation  in  1861.  From  1856  to  1859  he 
was  a  trustee  of  the  State  Reform  School.  In  the  management  of 
public  affairs  and  in  the  encouragement  of  local  enterprises  Mr. 
Fayerweather  has  had  an  influential  and  helpful  part. 

He  was  married  in  1831  to  Sarah  Augusta  Tyler,  daughter  of 
Dr.  John  E.  Tyler,  of  Boston.  She  died  April  15,  1875.  They 
had  two  children.  One  died  in  infancy ;  the  other  is  Mrs.  Sarah 
Fayerweather  Gould,  widow  of  William  R.  Gould. 

Lyman  Belknap,  a  prominent  business-man  in  Boston  and  a 
prominent  resident  of  Westborough,  was  born  in  this  town  March 
21,  i8og.  He  was  descended  from  John  Belknap,  one  of  the  ear- 
liest settlers,  who  owned  a  farm  on  the  Flanders  road.  His  parents 
were  John  and  Ruth  (Fay)  Belknap.  "  In  the  school  of  adversity 
during  his  youth  and  early  manhood,"  writes  one  who  knew  him, 
"  were  developed  those  qualities  of  mind  and  heart  that  in  maturer 
years  secured  for  him  the  high  esteem  and  confidence  of  all  who 
knew  him.  While  quite  young  he  united  with  the  Baptist  Church, 
of  which  he  afterwards  [in  1856]  became  deacon.  In  his  Christian 
character  he  was  zealous  and  consistent,  and  was  always  a  cheerful 
giver,  showing  his  faith  in  his  works.  In  a  quiet,  unostentatious 
way  he  sought  the  poor  and  needy  and  relieved  their  necessities." 

Mr.  Belknap's  business  career  began  in  1830,  when,  at  the  age 
of  twenty-one,  he  opened  a  market  in  Westborough.  He  made 
frequent  trips  to  Boston  for  the  purpose  of  selling  meat  and  pro- 
duce at  Quincy  market.  This  business  he  continued  eleven  years, 
and  then  established  a  produce  and  commission  house  in  Boston. 


/p/^->^\p 


l.-^^^-?-^  I', 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.  439 

After  several  changes,  in  1848  he  opened  a  store  at  12  and  14 
Clinton  Street,  where  he  remained  until  a  short  time  before  his 
death. 

During  his  whole  life  Deacon  Belknap  retained  his  residence  in 
Westborough,  where  he  was  an  honored  and  respected  citizen.  He 
held  many  town  offices,  including  the  positions  of  selectman  and 
overseer  of  the  poor.  His  strong  sympathy  for  the  needy  and  un- 
fortunate made  the  latter  position  particularly  to  his  liking.  He 
was  a  director  of  both  the  First  National  and  the  Savings  Bank. 
From  1878  to  1879  he  was  a  trustee  of  the  Reform  School,  and 
from  1879  (when  the  plan  of  management  was  changed)  to  1884 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  State  Primary 
and  Reform  Schools.  He  declined  a  renomination  on  account 
of  failing  health.      His  death  occurred  January  22,   t886. 

Deacon  Belknap  was  married  in  1833  to  Martha  Morse,  daugh- 
ter of  Elisha  and  Patty  (Howe)  Morse,  of  Hopkinton.  She  died 
February  18,  1890.  There  were  two  children  of  this  union, — 
Ellen  M.,  widow  of  the  late  Calvin  M.  Winch,  and  Lyman  A. 
Belknap,  of  Andover. 

Daniel  F.  Newton,  son  of  Barnabas  and  Lucy  (Godfrey)  New- 
ton, is  a  descendant  from  some  of  the  earliest  settlers  of  West- 
borough.  For  three  generations  at  least,  the  family  homestead 
was  what  is  now  known  as  the  Blake  place,  on  West  Main  Street. 
Mr.  Newton  was  born  October  10,  181 1.  During  his  youth  he 
attended  the  public  schools  and  worked  on  his  father's  farm.  At 
the  age  of  nineteen  he  was  apprenticed  to  Joel  Bullard,  the  black- 
smith, with  whom  he  remained  four  years.  He  afterwards  worked 
on  the  farm  for  two  years,  and  then  began  work  in  the  boot  and 
shoe  shop  of  Thomas  Stone,  who  occupied  at  that  time  a  portion 
of  the  "Old  Arcade."  In  1840  Mr.  Newton  began  to  manu- 
facture for  himself,  and  for  the  succeeding  twenty  years  carried 
on  an  extensive  business  in  the  old  Cross  Street  factory.  He 
retired  from  manufacturing  in  i860,  and  with  the  exception 
of  a  few  years,  when  he  was  in  the  brokerage  business  with  his 
son  at  Worcester,  he  has  not  been  engaged  in  private  business 
since. 


440  APPENDIX. 

Mr.  Newton  has  held  almost  every  town  office,  having  been 
selectman,  overseer  of  the  poor,  assessor,  treasurer,  collector,  etc. 
From  1852  to  1873  he  was  deputy-sheriff,  and  during  a  portion 
of  this  period  served  as  court  officer  at  Worcester.  For  two 
or  three  years  during  the  war  he  was  government  assessor  and 
collector.  In  politics  Mr.  Newton  was  a  strong  Whig,  and 
on  the  breaking  up  of  that  party  drifted  into  the  Democratic 
ranks. 

In  183 1  Mr.  Newton  was  married  to  Amy  A.,  daughter  of  Levi 
Bowman,  of  Westborough.  Mrs.  Newton  died  in  1884.  There 
were  four  children  of  this  marriage,  two  of  whom,  Abbie  F., 
wife  of  Wilbur  E.  Forbes,  and  Frank  A.  Newton,  of  Boston,  are 
still  living. 

Samuel  Gates  Henry,  the  only  son  of  Samuel  and  Polly  (Gates) 
Henry,  was  born  in  Oakham,  Mass.,  February  14,  181 3.  He  had 
two  sisters,  Nancy  (Henry)  Foster  and  Mary  (Henry)  Gould,  the 
latter  being  the  mother  of  the  late  William  R.  Gould,  of  this  town. 
He  received  the  educational  advantages  afforded  by  the  common- 
schools  of  that  period,  and  when  a  young  man  engaged  in  the  busi- 
ness of  harness-making  and  carriage-trimming.  Subsequently  he 
studied  dentistry,  and  opened  a  small  store  for  the  sale  of  drugs  and 
medicines.  Upon  removing  to  Westborough,  in  1855,  he  opened  an 
office  for  the  practice  of  dentistry  in  the  building  which  was  then  on 
the  corner  of  Main  and  South  Streets.  The  same  year  he  bought 
a  half-interest  in  "  Eagle  Block,"  then  in  process  of  construction, 
and  upon  its  completion,  in  1856,  opened  the  first  drug-store  in 
Westborough,  and  removed  his  dental  rooms  to  the  same  building. 
He  continued  in  these  two  branches  of  business  until  failing  health 
compelled  him  to  forego  active  life. 

He  was  a  public-spirited  citizen,  until  his  death  maintaining 
an  unflagging  interest  in  the  advancement  and  prosperity  of  his 
adopted  town. 

It  was  largely  through  his  efforts  while  upon  the  board  of  road 
commissioners  that  Main  and  South  Streets  were  straightened 
and  widened.  This  improvement,  now  recognized  as  both  wise 
and  timely,  necessitated  the  moving  of  Central  and  Eagle  Blocks, 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES.  44I 

which  were  then  enlarged  and  remodelled.  When,  in  1873, 
Eagle  Block  was  destroyed  by  fire,  with  characteristic  energy  he  at 
once  set  to  work  to  erect  on  the  same  site  the  much  larger  and 
finer  block  that  is  now  known  by  his  name. 

He  bought  and  laid  out  Chauncy  Grove,  which  was  opened  as  a 
pleasure-ground  in  the  year  1876. 

Dr.  Henry  was  universally  esteemed  for  his  kindly  spirit  and 
thorough  integrity.  Reared  under  Calvinistic  theology,  he  was  led 
in  early  life,  by  his  own  thought  and  study,  to  embrace  the  liberal 
faith,  and  upon  making  Westborough  his  home,  united  with  the 
Unitarian  Church,  of  which  he  was  ever  a  steadfast  and  liberal 
supporter.  In  his  home  life  he  was  affectionate,  tender,  and 
sympathetic,  patient  under  suffering  and  trial,  bowing  with  trust- 
ing submission  to  the  inevitable. 

His  first  wife,  to  whom  he  was  married  in  1836,  was  Nancy 
Davis  French,  of  Oakham,  Mass.  She  died  in  1853,  leaving  five 
children,  all  of  whom,  excepting  the  youngest,  who  died  in  infancy, 
are  now  living,  —  Mrs.  George  H.  Raymond,  of  Oakdale  Park, 
Mich. ;  Mrs.  William  R.  Warner,  of  Fall  River,  Mass. ;  Charles  S. 
Henry,  of  this  town;  and  Mary  C.  Henry,  teacher  in  Fall  River. 
In  1854  he  was  married  to  Pamelia  Gates,  of  Petersham,  Mass., 
who  died  in  1872.  He  was  again  married,  in  1S75,  to  Mrs.  Mary 
E.  Conant,  of  Dedham,  Mass. 

After  an  illness  of  many  months,  he  died,  April  17,  1877,  at  the 
age  of  sixty-four  years. 

Horace  Mavnard,  the  eminent  statesman  and  lawyer,  was  bom 
in  Westborough  August  30,  1814.  He  was  a  lineal  descendant  of 
two  famous  Puritans,  —  Sir  John  Maynard  on  his  father's  side,  and 
the  Rev.  John  Cotton  on  his  mother's.  As  a  boy  he  was  studious 
and  ambitious.  In  1838,  having  worked  his  own  way,  he  graduated 
at  Amherst  College  with  the  highest  honors.  He  removed  to 
Knoxville,  Tenn.,  where  from  1839  to  1843  he  was  instructor  in 
East  Tennessee  College.  In  the  latter  year  he  was  chosen  pro- 
fessor of  mathematics  and  natural  history.  During  this  period  he 
was  studying  law,  and  in  1844  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  His 
practice  soon  became  large  and  lucrative. 


442  APPENDIX. 

Mr.  Maynard's  political  career  began  in  1852,  when  he  was  a  del- 
egate to  the  National  Whig  Convention  at  Baltimore.  In  the  follow- 
ing year  he  was  the  Whig  candidate  for  Congress,  but  was  defeated. 
He  carried  his  district,  however,  in  1 85  7,  and  remained  in  Congress 
until  1863.  All  his  speeches,  votes,  and  efforts  were  in  favor  of 
preserving  the  Union.  In  the  great  discussion  on  the  state  of  the 
country  in  1860-61,  Mr.  Maynard  took  an  active  part.  He  occu- 
pied middle  ground  between  the  anti-slavery  men  of  the  North  and 
the  secessionists  of  the  South.  There  was  no  reason,  in  his  view, 
why  the  States  should  not  remain  half  slave  and  half  free.  When 
war  began  he  at  once  became  an  ardent  supporter  of  the  Union 
cause,  and  suffered  both  loss  of  property  and  exile  from  his  State 
for  his  loyalty.  At  the  close  of  the  session  of  1863,  there  being 
no  provision  for  the  election  of  Congressmen  in  Tennessee,  Mr. 
Maynard  accepted  the  position  of  Attorney-General  under  Andrew 
Johnson,  the  military  governor  of  the  State.  When  Mr.  Johnson, 
on  the  assassination  of  Mr.  Lincoln,  succeeded  to  the  Presidency, 
he  offered  Mr.  Maynard  several  important  positions ;  but  the  latter 
preferred  a  seat  in  Congress,  where  he  served  from  1866  to  1875. 
In  March  of  the  latter  year  President  Grant  appointed  him  minis- 
ter to  Turkey,  and  he  proved,  it  is  said,  to  be  one  of  the  most 
competent  of  American  representatives  abroad.  He  resigned  in 
1880,  and  in  August  entered  President  Hayes's  cabinet  as  Post- 
master-General, serving  until  March,  1881.  His  death,  resulting 
from  heart-disease,  occurred  May  3,   1882. 

Mr.  Maynard  was  married,  August  30,  1840,  to  Miss  Laura  Ann 
Washburn,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Azel  Washburn,  of  Royalston,  Vt. 
They  had  seven  children,  three  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  The 
eldest,  Edward  Maynard,  after  serving  in  the  army  throughout  the 
war,  died  in  July,  1868,  while  U.  S.  Consul  at  Turk's  Islands. 
The  remaining  three,  Washburn  Maynard,  Lieut.-Commander  U.  S. 
Navy,  James  Maynard,  and  Mrs.  Ann  Mary  M.  Kidder,  reside 
in  Washington,  D.  C. 


WiLLUM  Curtis.  For  some  thirty  years  before  his  death,  in 
1887,  Dr.  William  Curtis  was  prominent  in  Westborough  both  as 
a  physician  and  as  a  public-spirited  citizen.     He  was  the  son  of 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.  443 

Jonathan  and  Lucy  (Mason)  Curtis,  of  Sturbridge,  Mass.,  where 
he  was  born  June  29,  18 16.  During  his  boyhood  he  resided  in 
Sturbridge  with  his  parents,  and  attended  the  public  schools.  He 
was  afterwards  a  pupil  at  Monson  Academy.  Having  selected  the 
medical  profession  for  his  Hfe-work,  he  studied  with  Dr.  Myrick,  of 
West  Brookfield,  and  afterwards  began  practice  in  that  town.  At 
the  age  of  twenty-five  he  was  married  to  Charlotte  M.,  daughter 
of  Col.  Nymphas  Pratt,  of  Shrewsbury.  Mrs.  Curtis  died  in  1885. 
The  doctor,  with  his  wife,  came  to  Westborough  about  1854,  and 
here  he  became  well  known  as  a  successful  physician  and  a  liberal 
public-spirited  citizen.  He  held  many  town  offices.  In  religious 
belief  the  doctor  was  a  Unitarian ;  in  politics,  a  man  of  indepen- 
dent views.  As  a  man  he  was  extremely  genial  and  open-hearted. 
He  was  a  member  of  many  societies  and  interested  in  many  direc- 
tions. His  liberality  will  long  be  remembered  by  the  recipients  of 
his  kindness,  and  the  citizens  of  Westborough  have  cause  for  grati- 
tude for  the  gateways  which  he  provided  at  Pine  Grove  and  St. 
Luke's  Cemetery,  and  for  the  legacy  of  $14,000,  —  the  remainder 
of  his  estate,  —  which  he  left  to  trustees  for  the  benefit  of  the 
public  library. 

Benjamin  B.  Nourse  was  born  in  Berlin,  Mass.,  March  31, 1816. 
His  parents  were  Theophilus  and  Lois  Nourse. 

In  1825,  soon  after  his  father's  death,  Mr.  Nourse  came  to 
Westborough,  and  lived  for  nearly  five  years  in  the  family  of 
the  late  Dea.  Elmer  Brigham.  The  next  two  years  he  lived  in 
Marlborough.  Then,  having  returned  to  Westborough,  he  was  ap- 
prenticed to  the  late  Jonas  Longley  to  learn  the  carpenter's  trade. 
Mr.  Nourse  followed  this  business  until  i860.  In  that  year  he 
began  on  a  small  scale  the  manufacture  of  plant-trellises ;  this 
business  he  carried  on  until  a  year  ago. 

Mr.  Nourse  has  been  prominent  in  town  affairs,  having  served 
on  the  board  of  selectmen  more  years  than  any  of  his  townsmen 
in  this  generation,  and  having  filled  many  other  town  offices. 

In  politics  he  has  been  a  Democrat  since  the  dissolution  of  the 
old  Whig  party.  For  many  years  he  was  an  acknowledged  leader 
of  the  party  in  this  town. 


444  APPENDIX. 

In  1875  Governor  Gaston  appointed  Mr.  Nourse  a  special 
justice  of  the  First  District  Court  of  Eastern  Worcester. 

In  religion,  Mr.  Nourse  is  a  Unitarian.  He  served  as 
one  of  the  building  committee  in  the  erection  of  the  present 
church  in  1849.  Mr.  Nourse  was  married  in  1843  to  Mary 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  late  Jonas  and  Susan  Longley. 
Four  children  have  been  born  to  them,  —  Henry  B.,  Frank  L., 
Walter  B.,  and  Emma  S.  Nourse.  Only  the  two  latter  are  now 
living. 

George  B.  Brigham,  who  has  been  a  leading  boot  and  shoe 
manufacturer  in  Westborough  during  the  past  fifty  years,  was  bom 
in  this  town  October  4,  18 18.  His  father,  George  B.  Brigham, 
was  a  native  of  Waterford,  Me.,  whither  a  portion  of  the  family 
had  emigrated  from  Westborough.  His  mother  was  Nellie  (Fay) 
Brigham. 

Mr.  Brigham  remained  with  his  parents  until  he  was  nine  years 
old,  when  he  went  to  live  with  Elijah  Forbes  on  the  farm  near 
the  reservoir,  now  owned  by  the  town.  At  the  age  of  sixteen 
he  became  a  member  of  David  Warren's  family.  Mr.  Brigham 
took  advantage  of  such  educational  advantages  as  were  then 
afforded.  He  attended  the  public  schools  nine  or  ten  weeks 
in  the  year,  and  at  the  age  of  eighteen  attended  the  Worcester 
Manual  Labor  School. 

His  experience  in  the  boot  and  shoe  business  began  in  1837, 
when  —  a  youth  of  nineteen  —  he  began  to  superintend  Thomas 
Stone's  factory.  Two  years  later  he  formed  a  partnership  with 
Moses  Newton,  with  whom  he  manufactured  during  the  succeeding 
four  years.  In  1843  he  entered  the  grocery  and  produce  busi- 
ness in  Boston,  with  Silas  O.  Brigham,  of  Boston,  and  Elijah 
Morse,  of  Westborough,  but  at  the  end  of  a  year  sold  out  to  his 
partners.  During  the  next  five  years  Mr.  Brigham  resided  in 
Sherborn  and  in  Westborough,  dividing  the  time  between  farming 
and  trading.  From  1849  to  1857  he  superintended  Daniel  F. 
Newton's  factory,  and  also,  in  company  with  John  H.  Pierce,  car- 
ried on  the  wood  and  lumber  business.  In  1858  Mr.  Brigham 
began  to  manufacture  boots  and  shoes  on  his  own  account,  and 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES.  445 

with  his  sons,  John  L.  and  Horace  E.  Brighani,  still  continues  the 
business. 

Mr.  Brigham  has  been  a  member  of  the  Baptist  Church  since  he 
was  seventeen  years  old.  In  politics  he  is  a  strong  Republican. 
He  has  held  various  town  offices,  and  in  1887  represented  this 
district  in  the  Massachusetts  House  of  Representatives. 

Mr.  Brigham  has  been  twice  married.  His  first  wife,  to  whom 
he  was  married  April  10,  i844,was  Caroline  Jones  Leland,  of  Sher- 
born,  the  daughter  of  John  Leland  and  Sally  (Bickford)  Leland. 
She  died  February  14,  1858.  On  January  9,  1859,  Mr.  Brigham 
married  his  present  wife,  Mary  Phipps  Homer,  the  daughter  of 
Michael  Homer  and  Susan  (Phipps)  Homer,  of  Hopkinton.  Mr. 
Brigham  had  six  children  by  his  first  wife,  —  Ella  Lucile,  Ather- 
ton  Fontenelle,  Carrie  Georgiana  (Barr),  John  Leland,  George 
Bickford,  and  Bertram  Fay  Brigham  ;  and  five  by  his  second  wife, 
—  Frank  Fontenelle,  Horace  Eugene,  Lillie  Josephine,  Marion 
Homer,  and  Ernest  Phipps  Brigham. 

Samuel  M,  Griggs.  Few  faces  have  been  more  familiar  to 
the  people  of  Westborough  for  the  last  thirty  years  than  that  of 
Mr.  Griggs,  and  few  lives  have  been  as  closely  interwoven  with  the 
later  history  of  the  town.  As  the  head  of  the  firm  of  S.  M.  Griggs 
&  Co.,  as  the  town-clerk,  as  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Evan- 
gelical church  and  society,  and  at  two  different  periods  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  district  in  the  State  Legislature,  he  moved,  always 
quietly  and  unassumingly,  in  the  sight  of  all  the  people,  known 
and  respected  by  all.  He  was  born  in  Grafton,  Vt.,  September 
10,  1822.  When  he  was  only  two  years  old  his  parents  removed 
to  Berlin,  Mass.,  where  his  childhood  was  passed.  He  obtained  his 
education  there  and  at  Leicester  Academy,  and  at  the  age  of  six- 
teen came  to  Westborough  as  a  clerk  in  the  store  of  Fayerweather 
&  Leach.  Here  he  showed  qualities  which  in  a  few  years  admitted 
him  to  the  firm,  where  he  remained  until  he  set  up  business  for 
himself,  founding  the  house  which  still  bears  his  name. 

On  July  6,  1855,  he  was  elected  town-clerk,  and  held  the  office 
thenceforward,  in  spite  of  all  whirlings  of  the  political  machine,  for 
thirty-one  years.     In  this  position  he  was  not  merely  an  efficient 


446  APPENDIX, 

officer ;  the  town  records  during  its  whole  history  were  mastered 
by  him,  and  he  acquired  a  rare  famiharity  with  the  past,  with  the 
precedents  of  town  action,  and  with  historic  places  and  men. 
Always  a  reader  and  a  student,  he  had  an  acquaintance  with 
books  and  a  general  information  which  made  him  the  peer  of 
more  liberally  educated  men,  and  an  intelligent  leader  and  guide. 
He  was  always  closely  connected  with  the  welfare  of  the  public 
library,  not  merely  as  trustee,  but  as  a  warm  friend  of  its  best 
interests.  As  a  business  man  he  was  unremitting  in  his  attention 
and  fidelity,  and  was  always  connected,  in  one  way  or  another, 
with  both  the  banks. 

In  local  and  district  politics  he  was  always  a  leader.  His  famil- 
iarity with  the  political  history  of  the  State  and  nation  was  excep- 
tional, and  he  had  a  keen  insight  into  men  and  motives,  with  a 
shrewd  sense  in  debated  questions  which  made  him  a  good  guide. 
He  was  not  an  orator,  and  made  no  speeches ;  but  affairs  moved 
more  safely  when  his  hand  was  on  the  helm.  In  1862  and  1863 
he  was  the  town's  representative  in  the  State  Legislature,  and  ten 
years  later  sat  for  the  corresponding  term  in  the  senate.  While 
there  he  was  appointed  State  Treasurer  of  the  Lyman  Fund  for 
the  Reform  School,  — an  office  which  he  retained  some  years. 

His  connection  with  the  Evangelical  Church  dates  from  1841, 
when,  a  young  man  of  nineteen,  he  brought  to  it  a  letter  of  transfer. 
From  that  time  for  more  than  forty-five  years  he  was  a  stanch 
supporter  of  it.  He  was  not  a  talker  in  the  religious  sphere  any 
more  than  in  civil  affairs  ;  but  he  had  a  strong  interest  in  the 
church  and  in  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  his  presence  and  influence 
were  always  ready.  He  had  a  keen  judgment  of  men,  and  clear 
convictions  as  to  religious  theories  and  methods.  His  common- 
sense,  mingled  with  a  ready  tact,  proved  the  solvent  of  many  a 
difficulty.  He  furnished  an  element  which  every  church  needs, 
and  which  is  not  always  estimated  at  its  true  value  until  it  is 
missed. 

He  married  in  1848  Henrietta  A.,  daughter  of  Otis  Brigham, 
who  with  his  only  daughter,  the  wife  of  Henry  S.  Knight,  M.  D., 
of  Worcester,  survives  him.  He  died  November  7,  1886.  His 
death  carried  sadness  to  the  whole  community. 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.  447 

Christopher  Whitney  was  a  prominent  business  man  in  West, 
borough  for  nearly  forty  years  before  his  death,  which  occurred 
March  2,  1889. 

He  was  bom  June  16,  1827,  at  Halifax,  Vt.  His  parents  were 
Alpheus  and  Sarah  (Stovve)  Whitney.  On  coming  to  Westborough 
in  185 1,  Mr.  Whitney  first  engaged  in  the  bakery,  flour,  and  grain 
business,  which  he  continued  for  seventeen  years.  He  afterwards 
was  engaged  in  the  lumber  business  at  Natick  for  a  year,  and  then 
began  the  same  business  in  Westborough.  He  was  successful  in 
this,  as  in  his  other  business  projects,  and  built  up  a  large  and 
lucrative  trade.  His  son-in-law,  Frank  V.  Bartlett,  and  George 
L.  Smith  still  continue  the  business  under  the  firm-name  of  C. 
Whitney  &  Co. 

In  1882  Mr.  Whitney  built  the  "Whitney  House,"  which  stands 
as  a  monument  to  both  his  enterprise  and  his  public  spirit. 

Through  his  various  undertakings  Mr.  Whitney  amassed  consid- 
erable property,  —  the  result  of  honest,  intelligent,  and  energetic 
business  management.  He  was  a  generous,  philanthropic  man  in 
a  quiet,  unassuming  way,  and  many  shared  in  his  prosperity. 

In  1 85 1  Mr.  Whitney  was  married  to  Abbie  Morse  Thomson, 
of  Bellingham,  Mass.  They  had  three  children,  —  Frank  C,  Abbie 
M.,  wife  of  Frank  V.  Bartlett,  and  Nellie  E.,  wife  of  George  H. 
Woodman. 

William  R.  Gould,  son  of  Rufus  and  Mary  (Henry)  Gould, 
was  born  in  New  Braintree,  Mass.,  April  20,  1832,  where  he  lived 
until  he  was  about  twelve  years  old.  At  that  time  his  parents 
removed  to  Oakham,  where  Mr.  Gould  remained  until  1854.  In 
that  year  or  a  little  later  he,  with  several  ambitious  school  friends, 
went  to  the  gold  mines  of  northern  California.  He  accumulated 
considerable  money,  and  removed  to  San  Francisco. 

After  six  years  and  a  half  in  California,  Mr.  Gould  returned  to 
Massachusetts  for  a  visit. 

In  i860  he  came  to  Westborough,  and  during  two  or  three 
years  carried  on  the  retail  boot  and  shoe  business  in  this  town. 
He  then  bought  out  the  dry-goods  store  of  Mr.  Penniman  and 
formed  a  partnership  with  Henry  Chamberlain,  of  Southborough. 


448  APPENDIX. 

Later  he  was  in  the  hardware  business.  During  all  these  years  he 
had  been  seeking  an  opportunity  to  go  into  manufacturing,  which 
occurred  in  April,  1879,  when  he  formed  a  partnership  with  George 
B.  and  John  L.  Brigham  for  the  manufacture  of  boots  and  shoes, 
under  the  firm  name  of  Brigham,  Gould,  &  Co.  In  1882  the 
partnership  was  dissolved,  whereupon  Mr.  Gould,  with  Melvin  H. 
Walker,  formed  the  firm  of  Gould  &  Walker.  Mr.  Gould  remained 
in  the  business  until  shortly  before  his  death,  which  occurred  March 
25,  1890. 

Mr.  Gould  held  the  town  offices  of  selectman,  overseer  of  the 
poor,  and  water-commissioner.  For  a  number  of  years  he  was 
a  director  of  the  First  National  Bank  and  a  trustee  of  the  Savings 
Bank. 

In  1 866  Mr.  Gould  was  married  to  Sarah,  daughter  of  John  A. 
Fayerweather. 

Edwin  Bayard  Harvey,  son  of  Eben  and  Rozella  (Winslow) 
Harvey,  was  born  in  Deerfield,  Rockingham  County,  N.  H.,  April 
4,  1834. 

He  received  his  early  education  in  the  common  schools.  Sub- 
sequently he  attended  the  Military  Institute,  Pembroke,  N.  H., 
and  the  New  Hampshire  Conference  Seminary,  Northfield,  N.  H. 
In  1857  he  was  graduated  from  the  Wesleyan  University,  Middle- 
town,  Conn.  The  year  following  he  taught  in  Poultney  Academy, 
Poultney,  Vt.,  and  in  i860  became  principal  of  Macedon  Acad- 
emy, Macedon,  N.  Y.  This  position  he  resigned  after  two  years 
service  in  order  to  accept  the  professorship  of  natural  science  in 
Wesleyan  Academy,  Wilbraham.  In  1864  he  entered  the  Harvard 
Medical  School.  He  received  his  degree  in  1866,  and  immediately 
began  practice  in  Westborough.     Here  he  has  since  resided. 

In  1872  Dr.  Harvey  visited  several  of  the  principal  universities 
in  Europe  in  the  study  of  his  profession.  He  is  widely  known 
as  a  skilful  practitioner,  has  a  large  consultation  practice,  and  is 
recognized  as  the  leading  surgeon  in  this  locality.  For  fifteen 
years  he  has  been  councillor  of  the  Massachusetts  Medical  Society, 
and  has  held  the  presidency  and  other  offices  in  the  Worcester 
District  Medical  Society. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES.  449 

For  nearly  twenty  years  Dr.  Harvey  was  a  member  of  the 
School  Committee  in  Westborough,  and  for  two  years  was  super- 
intendent of  schools.  He  is  president  of  the  Board  of  Trustees 
of  the  public  library,  and  a  trustee  of  the  Westborough  Savings 
Bank. 

In  1 8  73  he  was  appointed  trustee  of  the  State  Reform  School, 
and  was  reappointed  in  1876,  serving  six  years.  In  1884  ^^^ 
1885  he  represented  this  district  in  the  Legislature.  He  served 
on  the  committee  on  Public  Charitable  Institutions,  and  during  his 
second  term  was  chairman.  During  his  first  year  in  the  Legis- 
lature he  introduced  the  free  text-book  bill,  and  it  was  largely 
through  his  efforts  that  the  bill  became  law.  In  both  State  and 
local  politics  he  has  taken  an  active  interest. 

Dr. -Harvey  was  married  in  Concord,  N.  H.,  in  i860,  to  Abby, 
daughter  of  Eldad  and  Sarah  E.  (Fellows)  Tenney. 

Arthur  G.  Biscoe.  Among  those  who  have  served  the  town 
in  a  public  capacity  as  well  as  honored  it  by  the  record  of  a  useful 
and  manly  life,  it  is  a  pleasure  to  mention  the  name  of  Arthur  G. 
Biscoe,  whose  early  death  deepened  the  affection  felt  for  him  by 
the  community. 

He  was  the  son  of  the  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Biscoe,  —  for  many 
years  pastor  of  the  Congregational  Church  at  Grafton,  and  still 
living  at  Holliston,  —  and  was  born  in  Grafton  on  the  26th  of  May, 
1842.  He  entered  Amherst  College  at  the  age  of  sixteen,  graduating 
in  the  class  of  1862.  The  war  was  at  that  time  in  its  second  year, 
and  the  call  of  the  nation  sounded  loudly  in  the  hearts  of  its  young 
men.  Mr.  Biscoe  enlisted  soon  after  graduation,  and  served  nine 
months  in  Co.  G.,  51st  Massachusetts  Regiment.  On  his  return  he 
studied  law  in  the  office  of  William  F.  Slocum  in  Grafton,  and  in 
1864  was  admitted  to  the  Bar  of  Worcester  County.  He  began 
practice  at  once  in  Westborough,  and  here  spent  the  remainder 
of  his  life.  In  1867  he  was  married  to  Helen,  daughter  of  Hon. 
A.  M.  Bigelow,  of  Grafton. 

Mr.  Biscoe  very  speedily  identified  himself  with  the  town  in  all 
its  best  interests,  and  came  to  be  one  of  the  leaders  of  public 
opinion,  trusted  alike  for  his  ability  and   his  probity.     He  soon 


450  APPENDIX. 

found  himself  wanted  in  positions  of  trust,  and  filled  various  town 
offices,  as  well  as  other  posts  of  importance  in  business  and 
banking.  Remarkably  quick  in  insight  and  action,  he  made  one  of 
the  most  efficient  of  moderators  at  town-meetings  and  other  gather- 
ings. In  1 87 1  he  was  chosen  representative  from  the  district, 
and  from  1877  to  1879  was  a  member  of  the  Republican  State 
Central  Committee. 

In  his  profession  he  won  the  confidence  of  his  associates  by 
the  keenness  of  his  penetration  and  the  unflinching  honesty  and 
integrity  of  his  conduct  of  cases.  He  was  intensely  active  in 
professional  work,  as  in  everything  he  undertook ;  but  he  never 
sought  to  gain  an  end  against  his  best  convictions,  and  always 
strove  to  persuade  clients  to  a  private  settlement  rather  than  a 
public  trial,  where  it  was  possible. 

A  sincere  and  manly  Christian,  Mr.  Biscoe  was  always  actively 
associated  with  the  Evangelical  Church  and  society.  He  was 
not  afraid  of  his  own  convictions,  and  sometimes  rendered  high 
service  by  their  utterance ;  while  his  modesty  and  courtesy  saved 
him  from  the  appearance  of  partisanship.  To  those  who  knew 
him  intimately,  there  was  a  charm  in  his  playful  humor,  his  quick 
flashes  of  wit,  and  his  quiet  but  strong  affection,  which  made  his 
companionship  a  delight.  There  was  withal  an  unflinching  loyalty 
to  truth  and  a  soldierly  firmness  which  made  it  impossible  to  trifle 
with  his  deeper  feelings.  The  iron  qualities  beneath  the  surface  of 
his  gentler  aspect  came  out  in  full  development  in  the  long  struggle 
with  disease  which  at  last  overtook  him,  and  in  the  heroic  un- 
selfishness of  his  last  days.  He  died  at  Lynn,  whither  he  had 
gone  for  the  benefit  of  the  sea  air,  on  the  28th  of  August,  1879, 
at  the  early  age  of  thirty-seven,  leaving  his  wife  and  two  sons.  The 
whole  community  mourned  for  him.  The  Grand  Army  Post 
No.  80,  Department  of  Massachusetts,  organized  here  June  18, 
188 1,  was  named  after  him.  He  was  only  beginning  a  career  of 
great  usefulness  in  town  and  county  and  State  ;  but  he  had  lived 
long  enough  to  exercise  great  and  healthy  influence  on  the  town 
life  in  the  present  generation. 


BIOGRAPHICAL   SKETCHES.  45 1 

Henry  K.  Taft  was  vice-president  of  the  H.  O.  Bernard  Man- 
ufacturing Company,  and  general  manager  of  the  manufacturing 
part  of  the  business.  He  was  born  in  Upton  Nov.  18,  1842,  and 
died  of  pneumonia  at  his  home  in  Westborough  May  29,  1887. 

At  an  early  age  Mr.  Taft  began  work  in  the  straw-shop  at  Upton, 
and  afterwards  followed  the  same  occupation  in  Boston,  He  came 
to  Westborough  in  1867,  and  took  charge  of  the  blocking-room  of 
George  N.  Smalley's  factory.  A  year  later  he  was  transferred  to 
the  stock-room  ;  and  when  the  firm  of  H.  O.  Bernard  &  Co.  —  the 
National  Straw  Works  —  was  established,  he  retained  the  same 
position.  In  1875  he  became  a  member  of  the  firm.  When  the 
H.  O.  Bernard  Manufacturing  Company  was  incorporated,  in  1885, 
Mr.  Taft  became  vice-president  and  general  manager  of  the  fac- 
tory. He  died  two  years  later,  Mr.  Taft  was  a  man  of  unusual 
executive  ability,  and  from  long  experience  possessed  an  intimate 
knowledge  of  the  business  in  which  he  was  engaged.  In  the  man- 
agement of  the  factory  and  of  the  employees,  numbering  at  times 
nearly  a  thousand,  he  showed  rare  tact  and  judgment. 

Mr.  Taft  was  married  in  1869  to  Annie  E,  Clarke,  of  Walpole, 
who,  with  one  son,  George  H,  Taft,  survives  him, 

William  Trowbridge  Forbes,  born  in  Westborough  May  24, 
1850,  is  the  son  of  Ephraim  Trowbridge  and  Catharine  (White) 
Forbes,  His  grandfather,  Jonathan  Forbes,  was  the  fourth  Jona- 
than in  descent  from  Dea.  Jonathan  Forbes,  who  built  a  saw-mill 
at  the  outlet  of  the  town  reservoir,  and  was  annexed  with  others 
from  Sutton  in  1728.  He  attended  the  pubhc  schools  until  sixteen 
years  old,  and  completed  his  preparation  for  college  at  the  classical 
school  of  the  Aliens  at  West  Newton  and  at  the  private  school  of 
Rev.  James  Tufts,  of  Monson,  He  graduated  from  Amherst  Col- 
lege in  1S71,  where  he  took  the  first  prize  in  mathematics  in  his 
sophomore  year,  a  prize  scholarship  in  German  in  his  junior  year, 
was  one  of  the  editors  of  the  "Amherst  Student,"  a  member  of 
the  senior  crew  in  the  regatta  of  1870,  and  class  historian. 

In  1 87 1  he  was  appointed  instructor  in  mathematics  at  Robert 
College,  Constantinople,  where  he  remained  three  years.  With 
the  president  of  the  college,  Rev,  George  Washburn,  D,D.,  he 


452  APPENDIX. 

made  a  geological  survey  of  the  country  in  that  vicinity,  collecting 
about  two  thousand  fossils,  of  which  many  were  new  varieties,  and 
some  were  exhibited  at  the  Vienna  Exposition.  On  returning 
to  this  country  in  1874  he  studied  law  with  the  firm  of  Bacon, 
Hopkins,  &  Bacon,  of  Worcester,  and  was  appointed  standing 
justice  of  the  First  District  Court  of  Eastern  Worcester  in  1875, 
—  a  position  which  he  filled  for  about  three  years. 

He  resigned  in  1879,  and  practised  law  in  Westborough  until 
appointed  judge  of  the  courts  of  Probate  and  Insolvency  for  this 
county,  which  position  he  now  holds. 

In  1881  and  1882  he  was  a  member  of  the  Legislature,  serving 
on  the  committees  on  the  liquor  law,  on  probate  and  insolvency, 
and  for  the  consideration  of  constitutional  amendments.  He  rep- 
resented the  second  Worcester  senatorial  district  in  18S6  and 
1887,  was  chairman  of  the  committees  on  education  and  on  elec- 
tion laws,  and  a  member  of  the  committee  on  the  judiciary.  In 
1888  he  introduced  and  secured  the  passage  of  Acts  abolishing 
taxation  for  parish  purposes,  and  one  providing  for  the  incorpora- 
tion of  churches.  He  has  served  on  the  school  committee  six 
years,  was  selectman  four  years,  and  has  held  other  town  oflfices. 
He  wrote  a  sketch  of  Westborough  for  the  History  of  Worcester 
County,  published  in  1889.  In  1884  he  married  Harriette  Merri- 
field,  daughter  of  William  T.  Merrifield,  of  Worcester.  They  have 
four  children. 

Nathaniel  Emmons  Paine,  who  has  been  superintendent  of 
the  Westborough  Insane  Hospital  since  the  institution  was  estab- 
lished, was  born,  July  14,  1853,  at  the  home  of  his  grandfather. 
Dr.  John  A.  Paine,  in  New  Hartford,  Oneida  County,  N.  Y. 
His  father,  Horace  M.  Paine,  M.  D.,  was  a  physician  at  Albany, 
N.  Y. ;  his  mother,  Charlotte  (Mann)  Paine,  was  a  daughter  of 
Salmon  Mann,   of  Norfolk,  Mass. 

Dr.  Paine  was  a  pupil  at  Albany  Academy,  and  afterwards 
studied  with  Prof.  Lewis  Collins  until  he  was  admitted  to  Hamilton 
College  in  1870.  He  graduated  with  high  rank,  and  entered  the 
Albany  Medical  College,  —  a  department  of  Union  University. 
His  training  at  the  medical  school  was  supplemented  by  continu- 


BIOGRAPHICAL  SKETCHES.  453 

ous  experience  with  his  father.  For  a  year  after  his  graduation 
Dr.  Paine  studied  in  Germany,  —  chiefly  at  Vienna.  Returning  to 
America  in  1877,  ^''^  accepted  a  position  as  assistant-physician  at 
the  Middletown  (N.  Y.)  Homoeopathic  Asylum  for  the  Insane. 
He  spent  three  years  and  a  half  at  Middletown,  when,  in  1880,  his 
health  failed,  and  he  was  forced  to  seek  its  restoration  in  treatment 
and  travel.  In  December,  1884,  he  was  appointed  superintendent 
of  the  VVestborough  Insane  Hospital,  and  after  visiting  the  institu- 
tions of  other  States  came  here  in  May,  1885.  He  was  in  con- 
stant attendance  during  the  remodelling  of  the  buildings,  and 
furnished  many  valuable  suggestions.  Since  the  opening  of  the 
institution,  in  1886,  he  has  been  busily  absorbed  in  managing  the 
interests  committed  to  his  charge.  In  the  fall  of  1887  the  doctor 
was  appointed  lecturer  on  insanity  in  the  Medical  School  of  Boston 
University. 

Dr.  Paine  was  married,  June  5,  1879,  to  Harriet,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  the  late  WilHam  Gould,  of  Albany,  N.  Y.  Dr.  and 
Mrs.  Paine  have  two  children,  —  Alice  and  Nathaniel  Emmons 
Paine,  Jr. 


454  APPENDIX. 


LAND   GRANTS. 
By  WILLIAM   TROWBRIDGE   FORBES. 

THE  territory  included  within  the  present  limits  of  West- 
borough  contains,  according  to  the  survey  of  Nahum  Fisher 
made  in  the  year  1837,  13,340  acres.  If  we  trace  back  the  suc- 
cessive owners  of  the  farms  and  village  lots  which  make  up  the 
town,  to  the  time  of  its  first  settlement,  we  find  two  classes  of  pro- 
prietors. About  a  thousand  acres  was  granted  to  individuals  by 
the  General  Court  in  return  for  services  rendered  to  the  colony, 
and  the  rest  was  granted  to  companies  of  men  who  were  called 
Proprietors,  and  who  received  from  the  colony  most  of  the  ter- 
ritory included  in  the  five  towns  from  which  Westborough  has 
been  formed. 

The  Indian  title  to  the  land  was  extinguished  by  the  payment 
of  small  sums  of  money  after  King  Philip's  War.  There  was  no 
Indian  settlement  of  importance  here,  although  there  were  three 
of  Eliot's  praying-towns  north,  east,  and  south  of  us.  The  south- 
erly part  of  the  town,  including  all  taken  from  Sutton  and  Upton, 
was  claimed  by  an  Indian  named  John  Wampas,  alias  White.  He 
resided  for  a  while  in  Grafton  (Hassanamisco),  moved  to  Boston, 
became  a  sailor,  and  bought  a  house  and  lot  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Common,  where  Tremont  Street  now  is.  During  his  absence 
his  enterprising  wife,  Anne  Wampas,  sold  his  house.  On  his  return 
in  1677,  in  consideration  of  ^^20  he  confirmed  the  sale.  When  in 
London  he  met  Edward  Pratt,  of  St.  Paul's,  Shadwell,  a  victualler, 
and  deeded  to  him  land  between  Mendon,  Worcester,  New  Oxford, 
Sherborn,  and  Marlborough,  and  claimed  to  own  in  all  fourteen 
miles  square.  His  claims  were  not  admitted  by  the  General  Court 
or  the  other  Indians  in  the  Nipmuck  country.  William  Stoughton 
and  Joseph  Dudley,  commissioners,  gathered  the  Indian  "clay- 
mers  "  at  Cambridge,  and  with  the  assistance  of  Eliot  purchased 


LAND   GRANTS.  455 

one  thousand  square  miles,  principally  in  the  southern  part  of  this 
county,  from  Black  James  and  sixty-five  other  Indians,  and  Waban 
and  twenty-one  others,  for  ^50  and  some  small  presents. 

In  1684,  the  town  of  Marlborough  paid  ^31  to  twenty-five 
Indians,  then  living  in  Natick  and  Wamesit,  for  a  deed  of  all  the 
land  included  within  its  bounds.  At  a  time  when  so  many  pro- 
minent white  men  "made  their  marks,"  it  is  noticeable  that  six 
Indians  signed  their  names,  including  the  two  witnesses. 

The  early  settlers  not  only  paid  the  Indians  for  this  land  to 
secure  their  good-will  and  stop  their  complaints,  but  were  carry- 
ing out  the  repeated  commands  of  the  original  patentees  to  the  first 
settlers  in  the  colony.  So  long  as  he  remained  friendly  to  the  white 
settlers,  the  Indian's  right  to  hunt,  fish,  and  occupy  his  ancestral 
domain  was  recognized.  In  the  first  letter  of  instructions  from 
the  Governor  and  Deputy  of  the  New  England  Company  to  the 
colonists  who  had  already  arrived  in  1629,  we  find  the  following: 
"  If  any  of  the  salvages  pretend  right  of  inheritance  to  all  or  any 
part  of  the  lands  granted  in  our  patent,  we  pray  you  endeavor  to 
purchase  their  title,  that  we  may  avoid  the  least  scruple  of  intru- 
sion." The  Indians  living  within  the  present  limits  of  Massachu- 
setts were  so  few  that  most  of  the  territory  included  in  townships 
of  from  five  to  eight  miles  square  were  deeded  by  from  one  to 
five  Indians.  It  is  probable  that  there  are  more  persons  of  Indian 
descent  in  this  commonwealth  now  than  when  the  Puritans  first 
landed  in  Massachusetts  Bay. 

MAYHEW   GRANT. 

As  early  as  1643,  Thomas  Mayhew,  a  merchant  from  Southamp- 
ton, England,  later  a  preacher  with  Eliot  to  the  Indians,  presented 
"  a  charge  about  a  bridge  by  Watertown  Mill ;  "  and  the  colony 
granted  him  three  hundred  acres  of  land  without  locating  them. 
In  t666,  Mayhew  assigned  this  grant  to  the  executors  of  Edward 
How,  in  part  payment  of  his  indebtedness  to  How's  estate. 

June  18, 1 708,  a  committee  from  the  General  Court  found  a  strip 
of  land  north  of  the  Sudbury,  between  the  present  westerly  line  of 
Ashland  and  Rocklawn  Mills,  which  was  so  rocky  and  unattractive 
that  no  one  had  occupied  it,  although  it  was  very  near  older  settle- 


456  APPENDIX. 

ments.  The  town  of  Marlborough  formally  disclaimed  ownership, 
and  prominent  citizens  of  Framingham  certified  that  it  did  not 
belong  to  their  township.  Even  the  Indians  on  Maguncook  hill 
made  no  claim  to  it.     The  committee,  however,  laid  this  out  as  the 


THE   ORIGINAL  MARLBOROUGH,    AND  THE   NEW  TOWNS   "  SET   OFF  " 

FROM   IT. 

Mayhew  grant,  and  report  that  of  this  "  Fiddleneck,"  of  three  hun- 
dred acres,  some  "  was  good,  some  bad,  some  pine  and  some  oak 
land  and  some  meadow  in  it."  Later,  the  water-power  developed 
by  the  falls  of  the  Sudbury  increased  its  value,  and  the  manufactur- 


LAND   GRANTS. 


457 


ing  villages  of  Southville  and  Cordaville  were  built  on  this  tract  of 
land.  Three  years  after  this  grant  was  laid  out,  Col.  Joseph  Buck- 
minster,  of  Framingham,  lessee  of  the  greater  part  of  that  town 
under  the  Danforth  grants,  claimed  that  the  "  Fiddleneck  "  belonged 


»^> 


^t*'' 

«^^^\ 


THE  ORIGINAL   CHAUNCY,    AND   SOME   OF  THE  TERRITORY 
AFTERWARD  ANNEXED. 

to  Framingham.  His  claim  was  sustained  by  the  General  Court, 
and  the  Mayhew  grant  was  re-located  at  Whitehall,  in  what  is  now 
Hopkinton,  and  near  the  pond  of  that  name.  So  it  came  to 
pass  that  Westborough  was  bounded  on  the  east  by  Framingham 


458  APPENDIX. 

until  the  year  1786,  when  the  "  Fiddleneck  "  was  annexed  to 
Southborough. 

John  Belknap,  of  Westborough,  lived  near  the  disputed  territory 
in  1778,  when  he  finally  induced  this  town  to  choose  a  committee, 
to  meet  with  Southborough  and  Marlborough,  "  to  settle  the  line 
between  Framingham  and  Westborough  that  Mr.  John  Belknap 
has  been  a  contending  about  so  long," 

It  was  not  till  fifty-seven  years  later  that  this  controversy  was 
finally  settled  by  the  General  Court.  Sixteen  acres  of  the  Fiddle- 
neck,  probably  including  the  Abner  Prentiss  mill-site,  were  annexed 
to  Westborough.  About  a  century  and  a  half  ago  there  was  a  mill 
at  this  point,  and  for  ages  before,  the  beavers  had  constructed  dams 
across  the  Sudbury  and  its  tributaries, —  thus  aiding  in  the  construc- 
tion of  a  large  area  of  what  were  designated  on  the  first  plan  of 
Marlborough  as  "  Seader  Swamps." 

THE   BOSWORTH   GRANT. 

Edward  Bosworth  and  family  were  brought  to  Boston  from  Eng- 
land at  the  expense  of  Henry  Seawall.  The  General  Court,  finding 
them  unable  to  repay  the  costs  of  their  transportation,  fixed  the  sums 
to  be  paid  by  each,  including  the  son  Benjamin,  and  the  times  of 
payment,  and  further  ordered  that  the  "  fore-named  parties  shal  be 
bound,  one  for  another,  for  the  payment  of  the  said  somes  att  the 
several  dayes  of  payement."  ^ 

Benjamin  Bosworth,  like  so  many  emigrants  since,  soon  emerged 
from  poverty  and  obscurity,  and  in  1658  we  find  the  duty  of  warn- 
ing the  freemen  of  Hull  to  vote  on  election  day  resting  upon  him. 
The  day  arrives,  Bosworth  neglects  to  call  the  meeting,  and  is  fined 
forty  shillings.  He  appeals  to  the  General  Court  to  remit  the  fine  ; 
and  as  the  election  in  Hull  was  not  so  important  then  as  now,  and 
as  he  had  to  pay  ten  shillings  for  the  entry  of  his  petition,  the  fine 
was  remitted.  His  brother  Nathaniel  becomes  a  deputy  and 
magistrate  to  solemnize  marriages  in  Hull,  and  Benjamin  himself, 
in  1675,  heads  the  list  of  petitioners  who  were  granted  the  town- 
ship of  Stow. 

In  1686  he  is  still  basking  in  the  favor  of  the  court,  and  receives 
a  grant  of  two  hundred  acres  of  land,  which  was  laid  out  between 

1   Court  Records,  i.  152. 


LAND   GRANTS.  459 

the  old  west  line  of  Marlborough  and  "  The  Farms,"  which  were 
later  included  in  Shrewsbury.  Bosworth  moved  from  Stow  to 
Boston,  and  sold  these  two  hundred  acres  to  Thomas  Harris,  vic- 
tualler, whose  widow,  Rebecca,  sold  it  to  Gershom  Rice,  of  New 
London,  Conn.,  planter.  Gershom  Rice  was  later  one  of  the 
founders  of  the  permanent  settlement  at  Worcester. 

Sixteen  years  before  Westborough  was  incorporated,  Dea.  Caleb 
Rice,  of  Marlborough,  planter,  bought  it  for  £2\  ;  and  this  Eos- 
worth  grant  thereafter  became  famous  in  early  plans  and  records 
as  the  "Deacon  Caleb  Rice  farm."  The  northern  and  larger  por- 
tion of  this  tract  of  land  became  part  of  the  new  town  of  North- 
borough  in  1766,  while  the  southern  part  is  at  Boston  Hill,  in  the 
northwesterly  part  of  Westborough.  The  westerly  line  ran  on  the 
present  Shrewsbury  line  two  hundred  rods  southerly  "  towards  a 
snake  hill  [now  Boston  Hill],  ending  at  a  black  oak  tree,  thence 
25°  north  of  east  over  the  end  of  the  rattle  Snake  hill,  one  hun- 
dred and  sixty  rods,  ending  at  Marlburrough  west  line."  * 

EATON'S    GRANT. 
luiy's  or  BrighanHs  Farm. 

Gov.  Theophilus  Eaton,  of  Connecticut,  founded  the  colony  of 
New  Haven  in  1638.  He  was  one  of  the  original  patentees  of 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony,  and  landed  in  Boston  in  1637.  He 
had  been  a  prominent  merchant  in  England,  and  was  agent  of 
King  James  at  the  Court  of  Denmark.  He  advanced  ;^5o  to 
the  Massachusetts  Colony,  which  had  not  been  repaid  at  the  time 
of  his  death. 

June  II,  1680,  the  General  Court  "judgeth  it  meet  to  grant 
to  the  heirs  of  that  worthy  gent",  Theophilus  Eaton,  Esq.,  five 
hundred  acres  of  land  in  any  part  of  our  jurisdiction  free  from 
former  grants,  and  not  prejudicing  plantations."  John  Haynes  sur- 
veyed and  plotted  the  five  hundred  acres,  and  the  grant  was  ''  con- 
firmed as  laid  out,  provided  that  it  exceed  not  fivety  more  than  the 
five  hundred  granted  them,  and  that  the  same  be  reduced  to  a 
square  or  rhomboyds,  and  doe  not  prejudice  any  former  grants." 
A  few  months  later,  the  plan  and  survey  were  confirmed  to  the 
heirs  of  Governor  Eaton,  although  they  described  a  tract  of  very 

1  Deed  of  Gershom  to  Caleb  Rice,  Feb  25,  1701-1702. 


460  APPENDIX. 

irregular  shape,  its  western  extremity  forming  the  north  half  of  the 
part  of  Westborough  now  extending  into  Shrewsbury. 

About  two  years  later,  the  Eaton  heirs  sold  this  farm  to  John 
Brigham,  the  surveyor,  doctor,  miller,  and  land  speculator,  Thomas 
Brigham  his  brother,  and  John  and  Samuel  Fay,  sons  of  their  sister 
Mary,  for  ^25,  or  just  one  half  of  what  the  colony  owed  the  gov- 
ernor's heirs,  not  including  interest.  Each  Brigham  owned  one 
third,  and  their  nephews,  the  Fay  brothers,  one  third  together. 
The  southeast  corner  of  this  farm  was  a  little  northeast  of  the 
house,  on  the  Eli  Whitney  hill,  now  occupied  by  William  H.  John- 
son. From  this  point  it  extended  a  little  south  of  west  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  rods  towards  the  F.  J.  Adams  place.  The  stone 
wall  on  the  west  side  of  the  Whitney  pasture  hill,  which  can  be  seen 
distinctly  from  the  former  home  of  the  inventor  of  the  cotton-gin, 
is  described  in  old  deeds  as  "  Sutton  line  — ."  The  long  lines  of 
stone  walls  extending  a  little  west  of  north  towards  the  Assabet 
River  are  parallel  to  "  Marlboro'  old  line,"  the  most  easterly  of 
them  being  the  former  west  line  of  Marlborough,  which  extended 
in  the  same  course,  a  little  easterly  of  Hockomocco  pond,  to  the 
northwesterly  part  of  Northborough.  The  east  line  of  this  farm 
passes  near  a  spring  used  by  the  Fays  and  their  successors  which 
is  southeast  of  the  S.  A.  Howe  house,  where  John  Fay,  the  first 
town-clerk  of  Westborough,  made  his  home.  His  brother  Samuel 
erected  his  "  mansion  house  "  on  the  opposite  side  of  West  Main 
Street,  near  the  North  Grafton  road.  The  two  Fay  farms  are  now 
owned  by  M.  and  J.  E.  Henry,  who  live  in  the  Samuel  Fay  "man- 
sion." The  "  houses  of  the  Fays "  are  indicated  on  the  map  of 
Chauncy  and  farms  adjoining,  before  this  town  was  incorporated. 

The  third  of  the  "  Eaton  Grant,"  next  west  of  the  Fays,  was 
assigned  to  the  heirs  of  Thomas  Brigham,  and  remained  in  the 
Brigham  family  until  the  third  Jonatlian  Forbes,  who  had  married 
Moses  Brigham's  daughter,  made  it  the  Forbes  homestead  about 
a  century  and  a  quarter  ago. 

The  most  westerly  portion  was  taken  by  John  Brigham,  who 
soon  sold  it  to  his  son-in-law,  Oliver  Ward.  The  latter  erected 
the  upper  mill  on  the  Assabet  River,  and  sold  the  former  farm  to 
Joseph  Grout.  For  more  than  a  century  it  remained  the  Grout 
homestead,  and  is  now  owned  by  James  McTaggart.      The  Assabet 


LAND  GRANTS.  46 1 

meadows  —  to  secure  which  the  Eaton  grant  had  been  extended 
westerly  in  such  irregular  fashion  —  and  the  swamps  were  divided 
up  at  different  times  among  the  original  owners  and  their  succes- 
sors. If  the  present  maps  of  the  town  are  approximately  correct, 
the  surveyors  must  have  made  liberal  allowance  for  the  "  sag  of 
the  chain,"  as  this  five-hundred-acre  farm  extends  more  than 
a  quarter  of  a  mile  farther  west  than  the  distances  in  the  grant 
indicate. 

BEERS'S    GRANT. 

The  south  line  of  ''  Old  Marlboro' "  extended  from  the  Sudbury 
River  southwesterly  on  the  present  line  between  this  town  and  Hop- 
kinton,  and  in  the  same  course  through  the  first  road  connecting  the 
two  streets  to  the  town  reservoir,  nearly  west  of  the  Talbot  or  Dea- 
con Morse  place,  to  a  point  a  little  southwest  of  the  Eli  Whitney 
house,  and  about  forty  rods  southeasterly  from  the  southeast  corner 
of  the  Eaton  grant.  In  early  deeds  of  land  near  Piccadilly,  this  old 
south  line  of  Marlborough  is  described  as  "  Jack  Straw's  Old  Line." 
When  the  General  Court  was  considering  the  incorporation  of  West- 
borough,  a  plan  was  prepared.  It  did  not  indicate  a  hill  within  the 
proposed  limits  of  the  new  town.  Near  the  southwest  boundary, 
however,  are  the  words  "Jack  Straw's  Hill  at  Sutton."  Jack  Straw 
brook  is  still  well  known  by  that  name,  and  "  Jackstraw  pasture  " 
annually  appears  in  the  printed  report  of  the  assessors.  The  road 
extending  south  from  the  house  of  N.  M.  Knowlton  passes  directly 
over  Jack  Straw's  hill.  A  cellar  and  a  well  in  the  pasture  on  the  left, 
and  a  cellar  and  an  immense  stone  chimney  on  the  right,  indicate 
deserted  farms, —  the  former  once  occupied  by  Daniel  Forbes,  and 
the  latter  by  James  Miller.  The  earliest  Indian  trail,  known  as 
the  ''  Connecticut  Road,"  trod  by  Oldham  the  hunter  and  Rev. 
Thomas  Hooker,  passed  from  Ashland  through  Hopkinton  and 
Woodville,  and  near  this  hill  to  the  Indian  village  in  Grafton.  Ac- 
cording to  tradition,  the  home  of  the  famous  Indian  Jack  Straw  was 
on  the  summit  of  this  hill,  which  always  bears  his  name  in  old  deeds 
as  well  as  in  records  before  the  coming  of  white  settlers.  His  home 
was  so  well  known  to  the  early  colonists  in  the  Massachusetts  Bay 
that  a  grant  of  three  hundred  acres  of  land  to  the  relict  and  chil- 
dren of  Captain  Richard  Beers  was  laid  out,  forty  years  before  the 


462  APPENDIX. 

incorporation  of  Westborough,  "at  a  place  called  Jack  Straw's 
Hill." 

Capt.  Richard  Beers,  in  his  petition  for  a  grant  of  land,  describes 
himself  as  one  of  the  first  planters  of  this  colony,  and  says  that  he 
served  this  country  in  their  wars  against  the  Pequots  twice.  He 
had  been  many  times  employed  as  commissioner  by  the  Gen- 
eral Court  to  settle  disputes  between  towns,  and  locate  land  grants. 
He  was  appointed  one  of  the  prudential  committee  to  manage 
the  new  settlement  at  Quansigamond,  now  Worcester.  Although 
advanced  in  years,  he  pushed  boldly  to  the  front  in  King 
Philip's  War,  and  fell,  in  1675,  in  the  disastrous  fight  at  Deerfield. 
His  widow  and  children  had  lost  the  land  laid  out  for  him  near 
Dover,  as  it  had  been  included  in  earlier  grants. 

In  1692,  John  Brigham,  by  direction  of  the  General  Court,  laid 
out  another  farm  of  three  hundred  acres  at  Jack  Straw's  Hill. 
Jack  Straw  must  have  been  a  long  time  dead.  The  only  Indian  of 
that  name  mentioned  in  contemporary  works,  so  far  as  now  discov- 
ered, accompanied  a  party  of  Connecticut  Indians  on  their  way  to 
Boston  to  secure  aid  from  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony.  He  had 
been  in  the  employ  of  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  whose  Roanoke  colony 
had  failed  more  than  forty  years  before,  and  had  lived  in  England, 
but  "  was  now  turned  Indian  again."  Wahginnacut  and  his  san- 
nops  from  Hartford  could  hardly  secure  a  better  interpreter  or 
more  influential  advocate  than  this  venerable  Indian,  living  so  near 
his  path  to  Boston. 

In  1676,  three  Indians  surnamed  Jackstraw,  of  Hopkinton,  were 
hanged  in  Boston  for  their  share  in  the  massacre  of  the  Eames 
family  in  Framingham. 

This  tract  of  land  was  sold  by  the  Beers  heirs  to  Samuel  How, 
of  Sudbury,  for  ^15,  and  he  sold  it  in  1698  to  Thomas  Rice, 
of  Marlborough,  for  ^22.  The  latter  owned  all  the  land  from 
his  residence  on  East  Main  Street,  near  the  present  village  of 
Westborough,  to  District  Number  Five  School-house.  This  grant 
extended,  on  the  south  line  of  Marlborough,  from  near  Mounl 
Pleasant  to  a  point  on  the  west  side  of  the  Eli  Whitney  pasture  hill. 
It  also  extended  easterly  so  as  to  include  the  town  reservoir. 


LAND   GRANTS. 


463 


ELIJAH   WHITNEY   ANNEXATION. 

When  most  of  the  farms  in  the  "  Shoe  "  were  annexed  to  West- 
borough,  in  1762,  Thomas  Whitney,  living  on  the  North  Grafton 
road,  refused  to  be  detached  from  Shrewsbury  and  was  left  behind 


MAP   OF   WESTBOROUGH   IN    1 766. 

with  his  forty  acres  of  land,  entirely  surrounded  by  Westborough. 
He  lived  in  the  house  on  the  south  side  of  the  road  next  easterly 


464  APPENDIX. 

from  the  residence  of  B.  A.  Nourse.  We  do  not  know  whether 
he  loved  Shrewsbury  more,  or  Westborough  less ;  but  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  with  more  regard  for  individual  wishes  than  in  town 
divisions  of  the  present  day,  allowed  his  farm  to  remain  a  part 
of  Shrewsbury. 

His  son,  Elijah  Whitney,  bought  the  farm,  and  in  the  year  1792 
petitioned  for  annexation  to  Westborough.  He  says  that  his  farm 
of  forty  acres  is  situated  in  Shrewsbury,  but  "  is  incircled  with  land 
within  the  limits  of  the  Town  of  Westborough,  whereby  your  peti- 
tioner is  subject  to  the  Evil  of  passing  through  some  part  of  West- 
borough in  Order  to  appear  in  the  Town  of  Shrewsbury,  to  attend 
his  Municipal  dutys  in  said  Shrewsbury,  as  well  as  that  of  travelling 
as  much  as  two  miles  further  than  it  is  to  the  centre  of  said  West- 
borough. V  petitioner  therefore  humbly  prays  the  honorable 
Court  to  take  under  consideration  his  singular  local  situation  and 
afford  him  relief,  by  setting  off  the  afforesaid  premises  from  Shrews- 
bury and  annexing  the  same  to  said  Town  of  Westborough,  which 
would  have  taken  place  many  years  since,  when  the  adjacent  Farms 
were  set  off  from  Shrewsbury  and  annexed  to  Westborough,  had 
not  said  Whitney's  predecessor,  tlien  Resident  on  said  Farm,  Re- 
fused to  be  thus  set  of.  ..."  The  selectmen  of  Westborough 
and  Shrewsbury  indorsed  their  assent,  and  this  Shrewsbury  oasis 
became  part  of  Westborough,  March  12,  1793. 


III. 


TOWN   OFFICERS.^ 


THE  following  lists  give  the  principal  town-officers  in  West- 
borough  from  1 71 7  to  1890  :  — 


MODERATORS   AT   MARCH   MEETINGS. 


John  Fay,  1719,  1721. 

John  Pratt,  1722. 

Thomas  Ward,  1723. 

James  Eager,  1725,  1742,  1743.  I749- 

Jacob  Amsden,  1726. 

Thomas  Rice,  1727. 

Eleazer  Bowman,  1728. 

Edward  Baker,  1729, 1740,  1744, 1745, 

1751-53.  1755-57,  1759-60. 
Oliver  Ward,  1730. 
Joseph  Wheeler,  1731. 
Simon  Tainter,  1732. 
Josiah    Newton,    1733,    1739,    1741, 

1746-48,  1750,  1754- 
Aaron  Forbush,  1734. 
Abijah  Bruce,  1735. 
Jonathan  Whipple,  1736. 
Daniel  Warren,  1737,  1738. 
Jonathan  Livermore,  1758,  1764. 
Bezaleal  Eager,  1761. 
Francis    Whipple,  1762,  1763,  1766, 

1768,  1770. 
Phinehas  Hardy,  1765,  1767,  1769. 
Jonathan  Bond,  1771-73,  1777. 
George  Andrews,  1774-76,  1778,  1784. 
Joseph  Baker,  1779,  1780,  1785-88. 
Nathan  Fisher,  1781. 
James  Hawes,  1782. 
Abijah  Gale,  1783,  1792. 
Elijah    Brigham,    1789-91,    1793-96, 

1798,  1799. 


Daniel  Chamberlain,  1797, 1802, 1803, 

1S05,  1S06,  iSoS,  1809,  1S11-14. 
Andrew  Peters,  1800,  i8oi,  1804. 
Charles  Fisher,  1807. 
Solomon  Fay,  1810. 
Asaph  Warren,  1815-17,  1823. 
Jonathan  Forbush,  1818,  1821,  1822, 

1825. 
Phinehas  Gleason,  1819. 
Lovett  Peters,  1820,  1824,  1838, 1839. 
Joel  Parker,  1826,  1829,  1834. 
Otis   Brigham,  1827,  1828,   1830-33, 

1836,  1843. 
Joseph  Lathrop,  1835. 
George  Denny,  1837,  1840,  1841, 1850. 
Curtis  Beeman,  1852. 
Elmer  Brigham,  1844. 
S.  Taylor  Fay,  1845,  1849. 
Jonas  Longley,  1846,  1847. 
Daniel  F.  Newton,  1848,  1853,  1856, 

1857,    1859,    1861-65,    1867,    1868, 

1870-73. 
Ethan  BuUard,  1851,  1852,  1854. 
Benjamin  Boynton,  1855,  1S58. 
Timothy  A.  Smith,  i860. 
John  W.  Brigham,  1866. 
John  A.  Fayerweather,  1867,  1877. 
Arthur  G.  Biscoe,  1874-76,  1878. 
Sherman  Converse,  1879. 
William  T.  Forbes,  1880-88,  1890. 
Louis  E.  Denfeld,  1889. 


'  Where  two  dates  are  connected  by  a  hyphen  (as  1722-27)  both  years  are  included  in  the 
terra  of  service. 


466 


APPENDIX. 


SELECTMEN.i 


Thomas  Rice,  Jan.  5  to  March  3, 

1718;  1727. 
John  Fay,  Jan.  5  to  March  3,  17 18; 

1718-21,   1723,   1725-27,   1732-34. 

1736. 
Simeon  Hayward,  Jan.  5  to  March 

3.  1718. 
James  Bradish,  1718. 
Thomas  Ward,  1718,  1721,  1722. 
Thomas  Forbush,  17 18. 
Thomas  Newton,   1718,   1719,  1722, 

1725,  1729. 
Edmund  Rice,  17 19,  1722. 
Daniel  Maynard,  1720,  1725,  1728. 
Oliver  Ward,  1720,  1723,  1727,  1729, 

1733- 
Isaac  Tomblin,  1720,  1727. 
John  Pratt,  1722. 
Daniel  Brigham,  1722,  1728. 
Samuel  Forbush,  1723. 
Josiah  Newton,  1723,  1739-41,  1743- 

47.  1749.  1752-54- 
Samuel  Robinson,  1723. 
Daniel  Brigham,  1725. 
Daniel  Warren,  1725,  1728,  T731-33, 

1735.  1737-39.  1743-48- 
Charles  Rice,  1726. 
James  Eager,  1726,  1728,  1730,  1732- 

36,  1738,  1740-43-  1748-54- 
Joseph  Wheeler,    1726,    1729,   1737, 

1745,  1746. 
Edward  Baker,  1726,  1730,  1734-38, 

1740-42,  1744,  1749. 1751-54.  1756, 
1757.  1759.  1760. 
Thomas    Forbush,   Jr.,   1727,    1728, 

1730-33.  1735.  1738.  1739,  1743-51. 

I7SS- 
Jonathan  Forbush,  1729,  1734. 
Eleazer  Beeman,  1729. 


John  Maynard,  1730,  1734, 1736, 1737, 

1743.  1744,  1748.  1750,  1755.  1756. 
James  Ball,  1730,  1740,  1749. 
David  Brigham,  1731,  1737. 
William  Halloway,  1731,  1735,  1739. 

1741,  1742,  1748,  1751,  1753,  1759. 
Jacob  Amsden,  1731,  1739. 
David  Maynard,  1732,  1767. 
Jonathan  Whipple,  1735. 
Charles  Rice,  1735. 
Joseph  Grout,  1736. 
James  Miller,  1738,  1742. 
Nathaniel  Whitney,  1739-42,  1751. 
Jonah  Rice,  1745,  1750,  1757,  1758. 
Nathan  Ball,  1746. 
Jacob  Rice,  1747,  1756, 1757,  1761-63. 
Jonathan  Livermore,  1750, 1755, 1758, 

1764. 
Bezaleal    Eager,    1752,   1755,   1756, 

1760-62,  1765. 
Francis  Whipple,  1752-58, 1762, 1763, 

1765,  1770. 
Samuel  Wood,  1754,  1759,  1760. 
Daniel  Forbush,  1757,  1758. 
Phinehas    Hardy,    1758,   1763,   1765, 

1770. 
Benjamin  Fay,  1759,  1760,  1769, 1774, 

1777,  1786,  1789,  1790,  1790-92. 
Jonathan  Bond,  1759-64,  1766-75. 
Stephen  Maynard,  1761,  1762,  1768- 

73,  1781,  1782. 
Ebenezer  Maynard,  1761,  1766,  1768, 

1770,  1772-74,  1778,  1780. 
Levi  Brigham,  1763. 
Benjamin  Wood,  1764-67. 
Timothy  Fay,  1764,  1765. 
Jonas  Brigham,  1764,  1766-69,  1771, 

1772,  1775-77- 
Ebenezer  Chamberlain,  1766. 


»  It  was  the  custom  from  1717  to  1820  to  choose  five  selectmen  each  year ;  but  from  1820  to 
1890  — with  the  exception  of  the  years  1822-26,  1828-33,  1836,  1851,  and  1858  — it  has  been  the 
custom  to  chose  three.  In  earlier  years  the  selectmen  attended  to  many  duties  now  performed 
by  the  overseers  of  the  poor  and  other  boards. 


^%^^\ 


^    ^  kw^^S^^c^r^ 


TOWN  OFFICERS. 


467 


Zeduthun  Fay,  1767. 

Joseph  Baker,  176S. 

Jonathan  Fay,  1769. 

Phinehas  Maynard,  1771. 

Moses  Wheelock,  1771. 

Timothy  "Warren,  1772,  17S0. 

Solomon  Baker,  1773-76. 

Samuel    Forbush,   1773,   1774,   1787, 

1788,  1791,  1792. 

James  Hawes,  1775-77,  1782,  1783, 

1786. 
George  Andrews,  1775-77. 
Thomas  Bond,  1776,  1777. 
Jonathan  Grout,  1778. 
Joseph  Harrington,  1778,  1779,  1782- 

85,  1787,  1788. 
Barnabas  Newton,  177S-81. 
Abijah  Gale,  177S-S0. 
Seth  Morse,  1779,  1781-92. 
Edmund  Brigham,  1779,  17S7,  1788, 

1791-93- 
EH  Whitney,  17S0,  1781,  1785,  1786, 

1789,  1794-1S00. 
Aaron  Warren,  1781-83. 
Phinehas   Gleason,  1783,  1784,  1787, 

1788. 
Daniel  Chamberlain,  17S4, 1789, 1790, 

1793-1801,    1S05,    1807-10,    1815, 

1836. 
Joseph  Green,  Jr.,  1784,  1785. 
Elijah  Brigham,  1785,  1789-95. 
Antipas  Brigham,  1790. 
Nathan  Fisher,  1793-1806,  1S19. 
Simeon  Bellows,  1793-1800. 
Thomas  Morse,  1796-1800. 
Jonathan  Forbes,  1801,   1802,    1809, 

1815-18. 
Andrew  Peters,  1801,  1803,  1S04. 
Samuel  Fisher,  1801-4,  1809. 
David  Fay,  1802-4. 
Rufus  Forbush,  1802,  1S03. 
Phinehas  Forbes,  1S04. 
John  Sanborn,  1S05-S,  iSio. 
Joshua  Mellen,  1805-11, 
Solomon  Fay,  1805-14. 
Isaac  Forbush,  1S06, 


Thomas  Andrews,  1807,  1808. 
Isaac  Ruggles,  1810-12,  1S14. 
Joseph  Brigham,  181 1,  1812,  1S14. 
Abner    Warren,    181 1,    1812,    1814, 

181 5. 
Daniel  Bellows,  181 2,  1814. 
Moses  Grout,  1813,  1815. 
Asaph  Warren,  1813,  1S17,  1820-23, 

1826,  1827. 
Benjamin  Nourse,  1813. 
Luther  Maynard,  181 5,  1816. 
Joseph  Nichols,  1S16. 
Benjamin  Fay,  Jr.,  1813,  1816-19. 
Samuel  Forbush,  Jr.,1816-19. 
Samuel  Grout,  1818,  1819. 
Silas  Wesson,  1818-24,  1826,  1827. 
Elijah  Corbett,  1820,  1821. 
John  Wadsworth,  1822-24. 
Martin  Bullard,  1822-24,  1826,  1827, 

1832. 
David    P.    Mann,    1822,    1823,    1S25, 

1833-36. 
Jesse  Woods,  1824,  1825,  1827-31. 
Daniel  Fay,  1824. 
Lovett  Peters,  1825. 
Otis  Brigham,  1825,  1828,  1832. 
John  Warren,  Jr.,  1825. 
Nahum  Fisher,  1827-31,  1S33,  1834. 
Phinehas  Gleason,  1828-31. 
Daniel  Holbrook,  Jr.,  1828-31,  1833- 

35- 
Samuel  Harrington,  1S29,  1831. 
Abijah  Stone,  1832,  1S37. 
Joshua  N.  Mellen,  1832. 
Gardner  Cloyes,  1835,  1836. 
Elmer  Brigham,  1836,  1841. 
Abijah  Wood,  1836. 
Curtis  Beeman,  1837,  1854. 
Nathaniel  E.  Fisher,  1837-41. 
Lyman  Belknap,  1838-40,  1842,  1843, 

1850 
Josiah  Fay,  1838. 
Josiah  Brigham,  1839,  1840. 
Moses  G.  Maynard,  1841-45. 
Jabez  G.  Fisher,  1842. 
Hartwell  Bullard,  1S43,  1S44. 


i68 


APPENDIX. 


Albert  J.  Burnap,  1S44,  1851-53. 
John  A.  Fayerweather,  1845-47,  1867 
Lawson  Harrington,  1845-48. 
Charles  P.  Rice,  1846-50,  1856,  1857, 

1869-71,  1876. 
Daniel  F.  Newton,  1848,  1849,  1854, 

1868,  1872-74. 
Edwin    Bullard,    1849-51,    1863-65, 

1870,  187 1,  1876. 
Otis  Newton,  1851,  1853,  1858. 
Lowell  Belknap,  1851. 
Ethan  Bullard,  1851-53. 
Baxter  Forbes,  1853,  1855,  1863. 
Lowell  Forbush,  1854. 
Benjamin  Boynton,  1855. 
Joseph  W.  Forbes,  1855. 
Joel  Forbush,  1856,  1857. 
Samuel     Chamberlain,     1856,     1857, 

1877,  1878. 
Noah  Kimball,  1858. 
Timothy  F.  Hastings  2d,  1858,  1S59. 
Anson  Warren,  1858,  1859. 
Greenleaf  C.  Sanborn,  1S58-62,  1S65, 

1866. 
Benjamin  B.  Nourse,  1860-62,  1866, 

1868,  1880-85. 


Silas  E.  Howe,  1860-62. 
George  H.  Raymond,  1863-65. 
George  W.  Parker,  1864. 
George  Forbes,  1866. 
William  M.  Child,  1867,  1872-75. 
Charles  H.  Pierce,  1867,  1869. 
Charles  P.  Winslow,  1S68,  1869. 
Henry  A.  Burnap,  1870. 
J.  Brainard  Putnam,  187 1. 
B.  Alden  Nourse,  1872-75. 
William  Curtis,  1875-79. 
William  R.  Gould,  1877,  1878. 
William  M.  Blake,  1879. 
Israel  H.  Bullard,  1879. 
Reuben  Boynton,  1880-82. 
William  T.  Forbes,  1880-82,  1887. 
Alden  L.  Boynton,  1S83-85. 
Fred  G.  Harrington,  1883-85. 
Samuel  M.  Griggs,  1886. 
Harding  Allen,  1886-90. 
Thomas  H.  Reilly,  1S86-89. 
Joshua  E.  Beeman,  18S8,  1889. 
John  E.  Henry,  1890. 
Boners  C.  Hathaway,  1890. 


TOWN    CLERKS. 


John  Fay,  1718-27. 

Thomas  Forbush,  Jr.,  1728-32,  1738, 

1742-51- 
Edward  Baker,  1733-37,  1739-41. 
Francis     Whipple,     1752-58,     1765, 

1770. 
Samuel  Wood,  1759. 
Jonathan  Bond,  1760-64,  1766,  1768, 

1769,  1773-75- 
Zebulun  Rice,  1767. 
Moses  Wheelock,  1771,  1772,  1778- 

82,  1786-95. 
James  Hawes,  1776,  1777,  1783, 1784. 


Elijah  Brigham,  1785. 
Nathan  Fisher,  1795-1814. 
Daniel  Bellows,  1815-17,  1819-22. 
Asaph  Warren,  1818. 
Phinehas  Gleason,  1823-34,  1837. 
Nahum  Fisher,  1836,  1838-41. 
Elijah  M.  Phillips,  1842-47. 
Otis  Newton,  1848,  1849. 
Jabez  G.  Fisher,  1850. 
Hannibal  S.  Aldrich,  1851-54. 
Samuel  M.  Griggs,  1856-86. 
Frank  W.  Bullard,  1887-89. 
Henry  L.  Chase,  1890- 


TOWN   OFFICERS. 


469 


TOWN   TREASURERS. 


Thomas  Rice,  17 18. 

Edmund  Rice,  1719. 

James  Bradish,  1720. 

Thomas  Forbush,  1721. 

John  Fay,  1722. 

Edward  Baker,  1728-32. 

Seth  Rice,  1733,  1738,  1740,  1741. 

Thomas  Forbush,  1734,  1737. 

Josiah  Newton,  1735, 1736,1748, 1750, 

1752,  1753- 
Abner  Newton,  1739,  1746,  1747. 
Benjamin  Fay,  1742,  1743,  1766-68. 
Francis  Whipple,  1744. 
Ebenezer  Maynard,  1745. 
Stephen  Maynard,  1749. 
Jacob  Rice,  1754-58. 
Benjamin  Wood,  1759-64. 
Timothy  Fay,  1765. 
Seth  Morse,  1769-77. 
Eli  Whitney,  1778. 


Barnabas  Newton,  1779-81. 
George  Andrews,  1782,  1786,  1787. 
Breck  Parkman,  1783-85. 
Jonathan  Forbes,  1788-96. 
James  Hawes,  1797,  1798. 
Samuel  Fisher,  1799,  1800. 
Andrew  Peters,  1801-4,  1809,  1810. 
Thomas  Andrews,  1805,  1807,  1808. 
John  Sanborn,  1811-14. 
Elijah  Brigham  Jr.,  1815. 
Charles  Parkman,  1816-29. 
Caleb  W.  Forbush,  1830-32. 
John  A.  Fayerweather,  1833-42. 
Hiram  Haven,  1843-46. 
Otis  Newton,  1847. 
Josiah  Childs,  1848-54,  i860,  1861. 
Samuel  M.  Griggs,  1855-59. 
Daniel  F.  Newton,  1862-67. 
George  O.  Brigham,  1868- 


IV. 


REPRESENTATIVES. 


THE  following  is  a  list  of  Representatives  from  Westborough 
and  the  district  including  Westborough,  to  the  Massachusetts 
House  of  Representatives.  Until  1858  the  town  was  entitled  to 
send  one  representative  each  year.  From  1858  to  1887  West- 
borough and  Southborough  constituted  the  district.  In  the  latter 
year  the  State  was  again  re-districted.  Westborough  is  now  in 
the  twelfth  Worcester  district,  with  Northborough,  Southborough, 
Berlin,  Shrewsbury,  and  Grafton.  This  district  is  entitled  to  two 
representatives. 


James  Eager,  1738. 

Edward  Baker,  1741. 

Francis  Whipple,  1746,  1755,  1756, 

1762,  1763,  1765. 
Tliomas  Forbush,  1759. 
Bezaleal  Eager,  1760,  1761. 
Jonathan  Bond,  1764-66. 
Stephen  Maynard,  1768-77,  17S5-89. 
Daniel  Forbes,  1777. 
James  Hawes,  1778-S0. 
Joseph  Baker,  1781. 
Hananiah  Parker,  1782. 
Elijah  Brigham,  1 791,  1793. 
Nathan  Fisher,  1 794-99,1801-1 1,1816. 
Simeon  Bellows,  1812. 
Moses  Grout,  1813. 
Lovett  Peters,  1824. 
Phinehas  Gleason,  1827,  182S,  1830, 

1835 
Charles  Parkman,  1829. 
Joshua  Mellen,  1831-34. 
Nahum  Harrington,  1832. 
Silas  Wesson,  1833. 
Elisha  Rockwood,  1836. 
Jonathan  Forbes,  1837. 
Otis  Converse,  1S38. 


Otis  Brigham,  1839,  1840. 

Nahum  Fisher,  1841. 

Nathan  E.  Fisher,  1842,  1843. 

Josiah  Brigham,  1S44. 

M.  A.  Maynard,  1845,  1846. 

Lawson  Harrington,  1847,  1848. 

Elmer  Brigham,  1849-51. 

Daniel  H.  Forbes,  1852. 

Abijah  Wood,  1853. 

Josiah  Child,  1854. 

Benjamin  Boynton,  1855. 

Charles  P.  Rice,  1856. 

Clark  R.  Griggs,  1857. 

Otis  Newton,  1858. 

Jonas  Fay  (of  Southborough),  1859. 

Albert  J.  Burnap,  i860. 

Dexter  Newton  (of  Southborough), 

1861. 
J.  F.  B.  Marshall,  1862. 
Samuel  M.  Griggs,  1863. 
Curtis   Newton  (of   Southborough), 

1864. 
Reuben  Boynton,  1865. 
John  A.  Fayerweather,  1866. 
Henry  S.  Wheeler(of  Southborough), 

1867. 


REPRESENTATIVES. 


471 


Samuel  Appleton  (of  Southborough), 

1868. 
William  M.  Child,  1869,  1870. 
Arthur  G.  Biscoe,  187 1. 
Francis   Fisher  (of   Southborough), 

1872. 
William  H.  Buck  (of  Southborough), 

1873- 

Reuben  Boynton,  1874,  1875. 

B.  Alden  Nourse,  1876. 

Dexter  Newton  (of  Southborough), 
1877. 

George  O.  Brigham,  1878,  1879. 

Leander  W.  Newton  (of  Southbo- 
rough), 1880. 

William  T.  Forbes,  i88r,  1882. 

Fitch  H.  Winchester  (of  Southbor- 
ough), 18S3. 


Edwin  B.  Harvey,  1884,  1885. 

Horace   F.    Webster   (of   Southbo- 
rough), 1886. 

George  B.  Brigham    .     .     .      ■\ 

Samuel  I.  Howe   (of  Shrews- >  1887, 
bury) ) 

J.  H.  Robinson  (of  Southbo.  j 
rough) i  1888. 

Albert  L.  Fisher  (of  Grafton)   ) 

Alden  M.  Bigelow  (of  Graf-  \ 

ton) (,oo„ 

Samuel   Wood    (of   North-  (        "' 

borough ' 

John  W.  Fairbanks      .      ) 
Lyman  Morse  (of  Berlin)  }  ^^^O- 
John  W.  Fairbanks  .     .     .      j 
Edward  C.  Howe  (of  Shrews-  >  1891. 

bury) ) 


V. 


VOTES   FOR   GOVERNOR. 

FOLLOWING  is  the  record  of  Westborough's  vote  in  every 
election  for  governor  since  1782.  The  first  governor  under 
the  Constitution  was  chosen  in  1780;  but  there  appears  to  be  no 
record  of  Westborough's  vote  in  that  or  in  the  following  year. 
In  both  those  years  John  Hancock  was  the  successful  candidate. 
In  the  following  record  the  name  of  the  candidate  who  was 
elected  is  printed  first.  The  date  given  shows  the  year  in  which 
the  governor  served,  not  the  year  of  election  :  — 


1782. 

John  Hancock 24 

Azor  Orn       9 

Scattering 3 — 36 

1783- 

John  Hancock 33 

Azor  Orn 2 

Benjamin  Lincoln  ....  2 — 37 

1784. 

John  Hancock 22 

Azor  Orn 4 

Benjamin  Lincoln  ....  i — 27 

1785- 

James  Bowdoin      .     .         -4 

Thomas  Gushing    ....  22 

Azor  Orn 15 

Scattering 8 — 49 

1786. 

James  Bowdoin      ....  27 

John  Hancock 7 

Scattering 2 — 36 


1787 

John  Hancock 
James  Bowdoin    . 

.     .    .100 
•     •      7- 

-107 

1788 

John  Hancock     . 

.     .     90 

1789 

John  Hancock 

.    .    80 

James  Bowdoin    . 

12 

Samuel  Adams     .    . 

.     .      2— 

•  94 

1790. 

John  Hancock      .     . 
James  Bowdoin    .     . 

.    .    65 
.    .      I 

Samuel  Adams     .     . 

.    .      1— 

67 

1791. 

John  Hancock      .     . 

.    .    76 

1792. 

John  Hancock      .     . 
Samuel  Phillips    .     . 
Azor  Orn     .... 

.    .    56 
•     .      7 
.     .       1— 

64 

VOTES   FOR   GOVERNOR. 


473 


1793- 
John  Hancock 

Samuel  Phillips 
Samuel  Adams     . 

1794 

Samuel  Adams 
William  Gushing . 
Elbridge  Gerry     . 

1795 

Samuel  Adams  . 
William  Gushing  . 
Elbridge  Gerry     . 

1796, 

Samuel  Adams 
Increase  Sumner 
Elbridge  Gerry 

1797 
Increase  Sumner  . 

Moses  Gill       .     . 
Edward  H.  Robbins 
Scattering    .     .     . 


1798 
Increase  Sumner . 
Moses  Gill  .     . 
E.  H.  Rabbins      , 

1799. 

Increase  Sumner . 
E.  H.  Robbins      . 


1800. 


Caleb  Strong  . 
Elbridge  Gerry 
Moses  Gill  .    . 


z8ox 


Caleb  Strong  . 
Elbridge  Gerry 


49 
6 
1-56 


47 
14 
I — 62 


42 
7 
S— 54 


;-8i 


-58 


69 
4 
3—76 


69 

2—71 


37 
41 
8—86 


62 
36-98 


1802. 

Caleb  Strong  .  .  . 
Elbridge  Gerry  .  . 
Edward  H.  Robbins 

1803. 
Caleb  Strong  .    . 
Elbridge  Gerry     .     . 
Edward  H.  Robbins 

1804. 

Caleb  Strong  .  .  . 
James  Sullivan  .  . 
Edward  H.  Robbins 


•  63 

•  31 

2—  96 


1805 


Caleb  Strong  . 
James  Sullivan 
Elbridge  Gerry 


1806 


Caleb  Strong    . 
James  Sullivan 


1807 


James  Sullivan 
Caleb  Strong   . 


1808 

James  Sullivan     .     . 
Christopher  Gore 
Scattering    .     .    , 


1809 

Christopher  Gore 
Levi  Lincoln    . 
Scattering    .     .     . 


1810 

Elbridge  Gerry  , 
Christopher  Gore 
Harrison  G.  Otis 

1811 
Elbridge  Gerry     . 
Christopher  Gore 


63 
9 
I-  73 


58 

33 
I —  92 


•  70 

•  93 

I — 164 


82 


5—170 


103 
90—193 


99 
77 
2—178 


.    87 
•  "3 


.  116 
.    86 

1—203 


.  100 

.    85-185 


474 


APPENDIX. 


1812. 

Caleb  Strong 99 

Elbridge  Gerry   ....  113 — 212 

1813. 

Caleb  Strong      ....  119 

Joseph  B.  Varnum .     .     .  no 

Aaron  Dexter     ....  i — 230 

1814. 

Caleb  Strong      .     .     .     .  117 

Samuel  Dexter  ....  120 — 237 

1815. 

Caleb  Strong.     .     .     .     .  no 

Samuel  Dexter  ....  95 — 205 

1816. 

John  Brooks 93 

Samuel  Dexter   ....  115 — 208 

1817. 

John  Brooks loo 

Henry  Dearborn     .    .     .  85 — 185 

1818. 

John  Brooks 95 

Benjamin  W.  Crowninshield  81 

Charles  Parkman    .     .     .  i — 117 

i8ig. 

John  Brooks 108 

Benjamin  W.  Crowninshield  87 — 195 

1820. 

John  Brooks 89 

William  Eustis   ....  68 — 157 

1821. 

John  Brooks 79 

William  Eustis  ....  66 — 145 


1822. 


John  Brooks  . 
William  Eustis 


77—175 


1823. 

William  Eustis  .     . 
Harrison  G.  Otis    . 

1824. 

William  Eustis  .    . 
Samuel  Lothrop 


100 
98—198 


1825. 

Levi  Lincoln 112 

Marcus  Morton  ....  I 

Josiah  Quiiicy    ....  i — 114 

1826. 

Levi  Lincoln 70 

Samuel  Hubbard    ...  81 

James  Lloyd 5 — 156 


1827. 


Levi  Lincoln  . 
Marcus  Morton 


132 
3— 13s 


1828. 

Levi  Lincoln 118 

Scattering 3 — 121 

1829. 

Levi  Lincoln 79 

Marcus  Morton  ....  10 

Samuel  Lothrop      .     .     .  i —  90 

1830. 

Levi  Lincoln 121 

Marcus  Morton  ....  9 — 130 

1831. 

Levi  Lincoln 144 

Marcus  Morton  ....  3 

Samuel  Lothrop      ...  3 

Scattering 4 — 154 

1832. 

Levi  Lincoln 131 

Samuel  Lothrop      ...  37 

Marcus  Morton  ....  4 — 172 


VOTES  FOR   GOVERNOR. 


475 


1833. 

Levi  Lincoln 128 

Samuel  Lothrop      ...  61 

Marcus  Morton  ....  3 — 192 

1834. 

John  Davis 80 

John  Quincy  Adams   .    .  91 

Marcus  Morton  ....  8 

Scattering 2 — 181 

1835- 

John  Davis 170 

John  Bailey 24 

Marcus  Morton  ....  11 — 205 


1836. 

Edward  Everett 
Marcus  Morton  .    . 

1837- 

Edward  Everett 
Marcus  Morton  .     . 


1838. 


Edward  Everett 
Marcus  Morton  . 


1839. 


Edward  Everett 
Marcus  Morton  . 


156 

22—178 


160 
33—193 


191 
22 — 213 


51—269 


1840. 

Marcus  Morton  ....  72 

Edward  Everett ....  222 

William  Jackson     .    .    .  1—295 

1841. 

John  Davis 290 

Marcus  Morton  ....  50 — 240 

1842. 

John  Davis 241 

Marcus  Morton  ....  54 

Scattering 12 — 307 


X843. 
Marcus  Morton  .     . 
John  Davis     .     .     . 
Samuel  E.  Sewall    . 

1844. 

George  N.  Briggs  = 
Samuel  E.  Sewall  . 
Marcus  Morton  .    . 

1845. 

George  N.  Briggs  . 
Samuel  E.  Sewall  . 
George  Bancroft     . 

1846- 

George  N.  Briggs  . 
Samuel  E.  Sewall  . 
Isaac  Davis  .  .  . 
Scattering  .... 


1847. 

George  N.  Briggs  . 
Samuel  E.  Sewall  . 
Francis  Baylies  .  . 
Scattering  .... 


1848. 

George  N.  Briggs  . 
Caleb  Gushing  .  . 
Samuel  E.  Sewall  . 
Scattering .... 


1849. 

George  N.  Briggs  . 
Stephen  C.  Phillips 
Caleb  Gushing    .    . 

1850. 

George  N.  Briggs  . 
Stephen  C.  Phillips 
George  S.  Boutwell 


71 
189 

76—336 


186 
97 
73—376 


210 
99 
63—372 


188 
87 
56 
16—347 


190 

83 
40 

33—346 


181 
29 

27 

20 — 257 


139 
176 

18—233 


143 

147 

22 — 3B2 


476 


APPENDIX. 


1851. 

George  S.  Boutwell 
Stephen  C.  Phillips 
George  N.  Briggs  . 
Scattering  .... 


1852. 

George  S.  Boutwell 
John  G.  Palfrey  .  . 
Robert  C.  Winthrop 

1853. 

John  H.  Clifford  . 
Horace  Mann  .  . 
Henry  W.  Bishop   . 

1854. 

Emory  Washburn  . 
Henry  Wilson  .  . 
Bradford  L.  Wales 
Scattering  .... 


1855- 

Henry  J.  Gardner  . 
Emory  Washburn  . 
Henry  Wilson  .  , 
Scattering  .... 


16 
183 

10—364 


29 
206 
168 — 403 


168 
205 
14—387 


167 
203 

32 

19—421 


238 
77 
59 
27 — 401 


1856. 
Henry  J.  Gardner  . 
Julius  Rockwell .    . 
Erasmus  D.  Beach . 
Scattering  .... 


87 
177 
96 
5&- 


-416 


1857- 
Henry  J.  Gardner   . 
Erasmus  D.  Beach . 
Luther  V.  Bell   .     . 
Scattering  .... 


1858. 
Nathaniel  P.  Banks 
Henry  J.  Gardner   . 
Erasmus  D.  Beach . 
Scattering  .... 


220 
57 
51 
5—333 


23- 
112 

53 

1—297 


1859. 

Nathaniel  P.  Banks 
Erasmus  D.  Beach . 
Amos  A.  Lawrence 

i860. 
Nathaniel  P.  Banks 
George  N.  Briggs   . 
Benjamin  F.  Butler 

1861. 
John  A.  Andrew 
Erasmus  D.  Beach  . 
Amos  A.  Lawrence 
Scattering  .... 


.     222 

•      51 

.       15-288 


.  220 
•  63 
.      46—329 


96 

46 
2—442 


1862. 


John  A.  Andrew 
Isaac  Davis    .     . 


1863. 

John  A.  Andrew  .  . 
Charles  Devens,  Jr.     . 

1864. 
John  A.  Andrew      .     . 
Henry  W.  Paine      .     . 
Alexander  H.  Bullock 

1865. 

John  A.  Andrew  .  . 
Henry  W.  Paine  .  . 
Robert  C.  Pitman  .     . 

1866. 
Alexander  H.  Bullock 
Darius  N.  Couch     .     . 

1867. 
Alexander  H.  Bullock 
Theodore  H.  Sweetzer 

1868. 
Alexander  H  Bullock. 
John  Quincy  Adams    . 


.     210 

72 — 282 

•     238 

.     184—422 


.     208 

•      73 

2—283 


320 
130 
I— 451 


276 
65—241 


287 
72—359 


363 
165-528 


VOTES  FOR  GOVERNOR. 


477 


1S69. 

"William  Claflin  .    .     . 
John  Quincy  Adams    . 

1870. 
William  Claflin  .     .     . 
John  Quincy  Adams    . 
Edwin  M.  Chamberlain 
Scattering       .... 


388 
123— 511 


278 
loS 
49 
4—439 


1871. 

William  Claflin  .  .  . 
Wendell  Phillips  .  . 
John  Quincy  Adams    . 

1872. 
William  B.  Washburn 
John  Quincy  Adams    . 
Robert  C.  Pitman   .     . 
Scattering 


200 
102 
72—374 


95 
41 
42—400 


1873- 
William  B.  Washburn 
Francis  W.  Bird     .     . 

1874. 
William  B.  Washburn 
William  Gaston  .     .     . 
Scattering 


471 


1875. 
William  Gaston  .    . 
Thomas  Talbot  .     . 

1876. 
Alexander  H.  Rice 
William  Gaston  .     . 
John  I.  Baker     .     . 
Scattering  .... 


1877. 
Alexander  H.  Rice . 
Charles  F.  Adams  . 
John  I.  Baker      .     . 


3-559 


263 
93 

2-358 


219 
353-572 


324 
241 

56 
4—625 


502 
232 
33—767 


1878. 
Alexander  H.  Rice . 
William  Gaston .     . 
Robert  C.  Pitman   . 
Scattering  .... 


1879. 
Thomas  Talbot 
Benjamin  F.  Butler 
Alonzo  A.  Miner     . 
Scattering  .... 


1E80. 
John  D.  Long     .     . 
Benjamin  F.  Butler 
John  Quincy  Adams 
Scattering .... 


John  D.  Long  .  .  . 
Charles  P.  Thompson 
Charles  Almy     .    .    . 

1882. 
John  D.  Long     .     .     . 
Charles  P.  Thompson . 
Charles  Almy     .     .     . 
Scattering 


1883. 
Benjamin  F.  Butler 
Robert  R.  Bishop   . 
Charles  Almy  .     .    . 


1884. 

George  D.  Robinson  . 
Benjamin  F.  Butler  . 
Charles  Almy     .     .     . 

1885. 
George  D.  Robinson    . 
William  C.  Endicott    . 
Matthew  J.  McCafferty 
Scattering 


341 
179 
84 
2—606 


447 
258 
25 
2—732 


446 

213 

19 

9—687 


544 
229 
13-786 


383 
97 
16 
2-398 


280 

423 
10—713 


532 
384 
9-925 


540 
260 

79 

28 — 907 


478 


APPENDIX. 


1886. 
George  D.  Robinson 
Frederick  O.  Prince 
Thomas  L.  Lothrop 

1887. 
Oliver  Ames  .     .     . 
John  F.  Andrew 
Thomas  L.  Lothrop 

1888. 
Oliver  Ames  .     .     > 
Henry  B.  Lovermg 
William  H.  Earle   . 


329 
192 

15—536 


383 
285 
6—674 


372 
265 
26 — 663 


i88g. 

Oliver  Ames 477 

William  E.  Russell      .    .  348 

William  H.  Earle   .    .    .  71—896 

i8go. 

John  Q.  A.  Brackett    .     .  316 

William  E.  Russell      .    .  264 

John  Blackmer   ....  123 — 703 

iSgi. 

William  E.  Russell      .    .  301 

John  Q.  A.  Brackett   .     .  278 

John  Blackmer  ....  108 — 687 


VI. 

REV.   EBENEZER   PARKMAN'S  HISTORY  OF 
WESTBOROUGH. 

THE  following  sketch  of  the  History  of  Westborough  appears 
in  the  Massachusetts  Historical  Society's  Collections,  Second 
Series,  vol.  x.  p.  84.  It  is  entitled  *•'  An  Account  of  Westborough 
(Mass.),  by  Rev.  Ebenezer  Parkman,  Jan.  28,  1767." 

This  town  was  formerly  part  of  Marlborough^  and  called  Chauncy. 
It  is  said  that  in  early  times  one  Mr.  Chauncy  was  lost  in  one  of 
the  swamps  here,  and  that  from  thence  this  part  of  the  town  had 
its  name.  Two  ponds,  a  greater  and  a  less,  are  also  called 
Chauncy, —  most  probably  from  the  same  cause. ^ 

Marlborough  was  divided  by  an  Act  of  the  General  Court 
Nov.  19,  17 17,  and  with  the  addition  of  three  thousand  acres 
of  Province  land,  and  some  farm  lands,  this  township  was  erected. 
In  the  fall  of  the  next  year,  the  first  meeting-house  was  raised. 
The  first  families  were  twenty-seven.  All  the  first  settlers  were 
about  forty. 

In  June,  1728,  a  part  of  Sutton  land,  about  nineteen  hundred 
acres,  having  ten  settlers  upon  it,  was  laid  to  us ;  and  there  have 
been  some  small  additions  of  land  from  other  towns  since ;  from 
places  from  the  southeast  part  of  Shrewsbury ;  and  tluree  from  the 
northwest  part  of  Upton. 

^  There  are  six  ponds  here ;  the  largest  of  them,  or  great  Chauncy  pond, 
is  in  the  midst  of  the  township,  as  originally  granted,  and  is  about  a  mile  in 
length.  It  was  by  the  Indians  anciently  termed  Naggawoomcom,  or  Great 
Pond.  There  is  another  pond,  which  was  called  Hobbumocke,  from  some  sup- 
posed infernal  influence,  which  a  man  was  unhappily  under  nigh  that  pond, 
from  morning  till  the  sun  sat.  The  River  Assabet  ( I  never  knew  the  meaning 
of  that  name)  flows  through  this  town.  Its  source  is  a  little  above  us.  Pas- 
sing through  several  other  towns,  at  length  it  fills  into  Merrimack. 


480  APPENDIX. 

A  church  was  gathered  here  Oct.  28,  1724  ;  there  being  twelve 
members  besides  the  writer,  who  was  that  day  ordained  the  pastor. 
Rev.  Mx.John  Prentice,  of  Lancaster,  preached  from  2  Cor.  xii.  15. 
He  also  gave  the  solemn  charge ;  and  Rev.  Mr.  Israel  Loring.  of 
Sudbury,  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  The  number  of  families 
when  I  come  here  was  fifty-eight.^ 

October  20,  1744,  the  town  of  Westborough^  consisting  of  125 
famiUes,  was,  by  an  Act  of  the  General  Court,  divided  into  two 
precincts,  the  north  part  being  indeed  very  small. 

April  30,  1745,  the  north  meeting-house  was  raised. 

May  21,  1746,  a  church  was  gathered  in  the  north  precinct,  and 
Rev.  Mr.  John  Martyti  was  ordained  the  pastor.  [Rev.  Mr.] 
Parkmaji  preached  on  that  occasion  from  Heb.  xiii.  17  ;  Rev.  Mr. 
Prentice  aforesaid  gave  the  charge ;  and  Rev.  Mr.  Cushijig,  of 
Shrewsbury,  the  right  hand. 

May  3,  1 749,  the  meeting-house  in  the  first  precinct  was  raised  ; 
and  Sept.  3d  following  we  first  met  in  it. 

In  the  year  1765  the  north  precinct  was,  by  an  Act  of  the 
General  Court,  made  a  district  by  the  name  of  Northborough.  The 
number  of  communicants  in  Northborough  is  twenty-one  males 
and  twenty-three  females. 

The  present  number  of  families  here,  in  the  town,  is  120;  of 
church  members,  including  those  who  occasionally  communicate 
with  us,  as  members  of  other  churches,  and  a  number  who, 
living  so  contiguous  to  us  as  to  be  nigher  here  than  to  their 
own  meeting-house,  have  therefore  joined  to  our  church,  but 
without  counting  many  who  are  gone  into  various  parts  of  the 
country  and  are  not  dismissed  from  us,  130. 

Male  members  who  dwell  here 42 

do.            who  dwell  on  the  borders     .       3 
Occasional  who  dwell  here 3 

^  Mr.  Daniel  Elmer,  a  candidate  for  the  ministry,  from  Connecticut  River, 
preached  here  several  years,  and  received  a  call  from  the  people ;  but  there 
arose  dissention,  and  though  he  built  upon  the  farm  which  was  given  for  the 
first  settled  minister,  and  dwelt  upon  it,  yet  by  the  advice  of  an  ecclesiastical 
council  he  desisted  from  preaching  here ;  and  a  quit-claim  being  given  him 
of  the  farm,  he  sold,  and  with  his  family  removed  to  Springfield  in  1724.  He 
was  afterwards  settled  in  the  ministry  at  Cohanzy  in  the  Jerseys,  and  I 
suppose  died  there. 


MR.  PARKMAN'S   history  OF  WESTBOROUGH.         48 1 

Educated  at  Harvard  College  were, — 

Rev.  Eli  Forbes,  Pastor  o£  Second  Church  in  Brookfield. 

Asaph  Rice Westminster. 

Jonathan  Livermore Wilton. 

Joseph  Bowman Oxford. 

Thomas  Rice,  Esq ,  who  is  at  Pownalborough. 
Ebenezer  Rice,  A.  B. 
Jacob  Rice,  A.  B. 

Among  the  Remarkable  Provideiices  has  been  the  mischief  by 
the  Indians. 

On  Aug.  8,  1704,  ten  Indians  rushed  down  from  an  hill  upon  a 
number  of  boys  who  were  with  divers  persons  that  were  spreading 
flax  on  the  plain  below  ;  they  slew  one  of  the  boys  immediately, 
and  captivated  four,  three  of  which  continued  and  grew  up  in 
Canada.  One  of  them^  was  a  sachem  many  years  ago,  and  well 
known  to  Heridrick,  the  Mohawk  chief,  when  he  was  here. 
Colonel  Lydius,  of  Albany,  informs  me  that  he  is  the  present 
principal  sachem  of  the  Caghnawaga  tribe,  near  Montreal. 

1  Timothy  Rice ;  his  Indian  name  was  Oughtzorongoughtou. 


INDEX. 


Abbott,  Rev.  Edward  C,  237, 
Adams,  Charles  F.,  477. 

Jr.,  Daniel,  163. 

Frank  S.,  340. 

George  S.,  404. 

Isaac,  197. 

John,  151,  212. 

John  Q.,  265,  274. 

John  Quincy,  475,  476,  477. 

Minot  C,  256,  268,  270,  274,  329. 

Samuel,  158,  472,  473. 

place,  the  F.  J.,  460. 
Adventists',  Second,  240. 
Agriculture,  245,  346-355. 
Agricultural  Society,  228,  406-407,  438. 
Aid,  Soldiers',  254,  271. 
Ainsworth's  Psalm-book,  112. 
Aldrich,  George  S.,  265,  275. 

Hannibal  S.,  468. 

William  M.,  256,  274. 
Alexander,  Rev,  Caleb,  203. 
Alexandria,  Va.,  260,  263. 
Allen,  Augustus,  251,  275. 

Rev.  C.  A.,  237. 

Harding,  468. 

Rev.  Joseph,  iS,  28. 

Joseph  A.,  402. 
Aliens,  the,  451. 
Almy,  Charles,  477. 
American  Block,  333. 

Straw  Sewing  Machine  Co.,  233, 3(>7- 
Ames,  Oliver,  478. 
Amherst  College,  377,  441,  451. 
Amsden,  Isaac,  42. 

Jacob,  46,  62,  104,  115,  465,  466. 
Anderson,  Captain,  247. 
Andersonville,  Ga.,  268. 
Andrew,  John  A.,  252,  476. 

John  F.,  478. 
Andrews,  George,    145,    196,  465,    467, 
469. 

2d  George,  196. 

John,  233. 


Andrews,  Nathaniel,  233. 

Thomas,  19S,  467,  469. 
Andros,  Governor,  107. 
Angier  &  Co.,  P.  A.,  367. 
Anniversary,  Church,  335-336. 

sermon,  Mr.  Parkman's,  125-130. 

week,  150. 
Antiquarian  Society,  Worcester,  88. 
Appleton,  Samuel,  471. 
Appropriations,  370. 
Armory  building,  375. 
Arnold,  Mr.,  155. 

Albert  A.,  264,  275. 

Rev.  A.  N.,  232,  251,  376. 

Mrs.  A.  N.,  251,  272. 
Ashland,  i,  100. 

Assabet  River,  3,  17,  31,  460,  479. 
Awakening,  the  Great,  115,  122-125. 
Axes,  manufactured,  355,  357. 


Babbitt,  Rev.  George  F.,  233. 
Bacon,  Charles  W.,  256,  275. 

William  B.,  253. 

Hopkins  &  Bacon,  452. 

&  Williams,  333,  363. 
Bailey,  David  M.,  265,  275. 

John,  475. 

Walter,  262,  275. 

Rev.  Silas,  232. 
Baird,  Daniel,  395. 

Baker,  Edward,  63,  97,  98,  99,  109,  133, 
138,  466,  468,  469,  470. 

John,  196. 

John  I.,  477. 

Joseph,  161,  196,  465,  467,  470. 

Solomon,  467. 
Baldwin,  Mr.,  364. 
Ball,  Benjamin,  163,  164,  T97. 

James,  81,  115,  466. 

John,  163,  197. 

Nathan,  466. 

Phinehas,  417,  420. 


4S4 


INDEX. 


Ball's  Hill,  47. 

Ballou,  George  S.,  262,  275. 

Rev.  Hosea,  233. 
Baltimore,  24S. 
Bancroft,  George,  475. 
Bank,  First  National,  397. 

Westborough  Savings,  397. 
Banks,  Nathaniel  P.,  400,  476. 
Baptist  Church,  209,  225,  231-233,  240, 

333- 
Barker,'Ira,  269,  326. 
Barnard,  George  M.,  400. 
Barnes,  Richard,  34,  198. 

Jr.,  Richard,  198. 
Barre,  355. 
Barry,  Father,  240. 
Barstow,  Sidney,  251,  276. 
Bartlett,  Abbie  M.,  447. 

Frank  V.,  366,  414,  447. 

Warren,  264,  265,  276. 

place,  the,  30. 
Basin,  baptismal,  91. 
Bates,  Abigail,  436. 

Adeline,  436. 

Edward  C,  240,  398,  414,  435. 

Rev.  Joshua,  436. 

Lucius  R.,  333,  364,  389. 

Zealous,  436. 

&  Beaman,  365. 

Parker  &  Co.,  364. 

Wightman  &  Beaman,  364. 

Straw  factory,  206,  364-365,  389. 
Bathrick,  David,  198. 

Jonathan,  198. 

Solomon,  198. 

Stephen,  197. 
Bay  Psalm-book,  113,  114. 
Baylies,  Francis,  475. 
Beach,  Erasmus  D.,  476. 
Beals,  Isaiah  H.,  251,  260,  276. 
Beaman     [or     Beeman],    Eleazer,    4^1. 
466. 

Ira  M.,  394. 

WillardW.  365. 
Beeker,  Ezra,  197. 
Beeman,  Abraham,  196. 

Curtis,  228,  332,  370,  465,  467. 

Joshua  E.,  468. 
Beeres,  William,  6. 
Beers,  Rev.  Henry  N.,  238,  335. 

Capt.  Richard,  461,  462. 
Beers's  Grant,  461. 
Beeton,  Jane  S.,  379. 

John,  197. 
Belcher,  Governor,  39,  103. 

Andrew,  17. 


Belknap,  Ellen  M.,  439. 

Dr.  Jeremy,  182,  183. 

John,  438,  458. 

2d  Joseph,  198. 

Lowell,  468. 

Lyman,     232,    328,    330,  333,    403, 
467  ;  biographical  sketch,  438. 

Lyman  A.,  439. 

Ruth,  438. 

Stephen,  198. 
Bell,  John,  246,  248, 

presented  to  town,  20S  ;  new  225. 
Bellows,  Daniel,  467,  468. 

James,  163. 

George  N.,  264,  265,  276. 

Reuben,  198. 

Samuel,  163,  196,  198. 

Simeon,  467,  470. 
Bemis,  Hiram  C,  264,  276. 
Bennett,  Dexter  W.,  257,  277. 
Bennington,  169. 
Berlin,  100,  203,  470. 
Bernard,  Henry  O.,  365,  366. 

Paul  D.,  366. 

&Co.,  H.  O.,  365,  451. 

Manufacturing    Co.,    H.    0.,    366, 
370,451- 
Berryhill,  William,  262,  277. 
Bicycles,  manufacture  of,  367. 
Bigelow  [or  Biglow],  Widow,  197. 

Alden  M.,  470. 

Asahel,  163,  164,  197. 

A.  M.,  449. 

Helen.  449. 
Bingham,  George  P.,  3S2. 
Biographical  Sketches,  431-453. 
Bird,  Francis  W.,  477. 
Biscoe,  Arthur  G.,  341,  412  ;  biograph- 
ical sketch,  449;  465,  471. 

T.  Dwight,  373. 

Rev.  Thomas  C,  449. 
Bishop,  Henrj'  W.,  476. 

Robert  R.,  477. 
Blake,  Clara  S.,  379. 
Black,  Robert,  265,  277. 
Blackmer,  John,  478. 

Rev.  W.  P.,  239,  251,  252,  277. 
Blackstone,  368. 
Blake,  J.  W.,  370, 
Luke,  407. 
Percy  M.,  420. 

William  F.,  267,  268,  270,  277. 
William  H.,  256,  277,  329. 
William  M.,  264,  277,  389,  468. 
Blake  place,  the,  47,  155,  358. 
Blanchard,  Charles  W.,  255,  277. 


INDEX. 


485 


Blanchard,  John,  265,  278. 
Blizzard,  the  great,  422. 
Board  of  Trade,  413. 
Bolton,  100. 
Bond,  Abraham,  19S. 

Herbert   W.,    262,   268,   270,    27S, 

329- 

John  S  ,  255,  278. 

Jonathan,   138,    152,  154,   161,  162, 
465,  466,  468,  470. 

Joseph,  163,  197. 

Josiah,  203. 

Thomas,  161,  163,  i6g,  170,  467. 
Boot    and     Shoemakers'     International 

Union,   412. 
Boots  and  shoes,  manufacture  of,    224, 

356-361. 
Boston  (in  1720),  65-66  ;  150,   151,  153, 
158,  160;  siege,  164-,  268. 

Harbor,  251. 

Hill,  31,459. 
Bosworth,  Benjamin,  45S. 

Edward,  458, 

Nathaniel,  45S. 

Grant,  458-459. 
Boulie,  Peter,  264,  278. 
Bounties,  169-172,  256,  257,  271. 
Boutelle,  Lewis  H.,  259,  278. 
Boutwell,  George  S.,  475,  476. 
Bowdoin,  James,  472. 
Bowen,  Rev.  William,  232. 
Bowes,  John,  249. 
Bowman,  Amy  A.,  440. 

Benjam'm,  197. 

Eleazer,  465. 

James,  169,  170,  191,  197. 

John  W.,  265,  278. 

Joseph,  48 1. 

Levi,  198,  361,  382,  440. 
Boyle,  Rev.  Patrick,  424. 
Boynton,  Alden  L.,  264,  278,  406,  468. 

Benjamin.  249,  403,  465,  46S,  470. 

Reuben,    332,    386,    389,   416,   468, 
470,  471. 
Boylston,  34. 

Brackett,  John  O.  A.,  478. 
Bradish,  James,  46,  51,  52,  62,  81,  466, 

469. 
Brady,  Dr.,  155. 

Patrick,  426. 
Bragg,  Mrs.  M.  L.,  427. 

Urial,  359. 

Willard,  359. 
Brajden,  James,  24. 
Braley,  Ellison  L.,  264,  279. 

Frank  G.,  264,  265,  279. 


Breck,  Hannah,  106,  431. 

Rev.  Robert,  81,  106,  431. 
Breckenridge,  John  C.,  246,  248. 
Bricks,  manufacture  of,  357,  366. 
Brick  Block,  the,  396. 
Bridge,  Rev.  Mr.,  186. 
Briggs,  George  N.,  475,  476. 
Brigham,  Widow,  196. 

Abigail  A.,  436. 

Albert,  262,  268,  279. 

Ann  F.,  436. 

Ann  M.,  433. 

Anna  P.,  437. 

Anna  S.,  433. 

Anne,  190. 

Antipas,  198,  206,  467. 

Atherton  F.,  445. 

Barnabas,  163. 

Bertram  F.,  445. 

Calvin  L.,  262,  268,  279,  437. 

Carrie  G.,  445. 

Catherine  M.,  433. 

Charles  E.,  256,  279,  437. 

Charles  R.,  252,  261,  280. 

Cyrus,  353. 

Dana  W.,  433. 

Daniel,  466. 

Daniel  E.,  436. 

David,  46,  47,  52,  55,  57,81,98,  102, 
198,  433.  436,  466. 

Dexter,  220,  235,  405. 

Dexter  P.,  256,  279,  338. 

Edmund,  163,  169,  170,  196,  467. 

Edward,  163,  164. 

Edward  E.,  362, 

Elijah,  135,  196,  19S,  202,  219,  407, 
432 ;  biographical  sketch,  433  ; 
465,  467,  468,  470. 

Jr.  Elijah,  469. 

Ella  L.,  445. 

Ellen  E.,  437. 

Elmer,  352, 407  ;  biographical  sketch, 
436;  443.465,  467,470. 

Ernest  P.,  445. 

Francis  A.,  252,  257,  280. 

Frank,  363. 

Frank  F.,  445. 

George  Ball,  225,  332,  359,  360,  361 ; 
biographical  sketch,  444 ;  448,  471 ; 
farmhouse,  369. 

George  Bickford,  445. 

George  C,  265,  280. 

George  O.,  331,  334,  352,  367,  387, 
397,  406,  407,  410,  417,  426,  436, 
469,471. 

Gershom,  197, 


486 


INDEX. 


Brigham,  Hannah  J.,  437. 

Harrison  M.,  252,  280. 

Henrietta  A.,  436. 

Hoi  way,  407. 

Horace  E.,  360,  445. 

I  vers  J.,  436. 

Jesse,  67. 

John,  19,  31,  34,  42,  43,  460,  462. 

John  L.,  360,  445,  448. 

John  VV.,  465- 

Jonas,  138,  466. 

Joseph,  467. 

Joshua  B.,  436. 

Josiah,  352,  407,  467,  470. 

Josiah  A.,  396. 

Jotham,  46. 

Levi,  431,  433,  466. 

Lilhe  J.,  445. 

Lucy  H.,  436. 

Marion  H.,  445. 

Mary,  460. 

Mary  J.,  436. 

Merrick  P.,  437. 

Moses,  460. 

Nathan,  34,  133. 

Nelly  F.,  444. 

Otis,  223,  225,  380, 407  ;  biographical 
sketch,  435  ;  446,  465,  467,  470. 

Phineas,  163,  164,  196. 

Sally,  433. 

Sally  S.,  433. 

Samuel,  34. 

Samuel  N.,  269,  326. 

Sereno  L.,  436. 

Seth,  163. 

Silas  H.,  264,  265,  280,  338. 

Silas  O.,  444. 

Sophia  A.,  437. 

Susan,  437. 

Susanna,  431. 

Susanna  W.,  433. 

Thomas,  19,  34,  40,  460. 

Capt.  Timothy,  28. 

Warren  L.,  259,  264,  280. 

&Co.,  C,  352-354. 

Gould  &  Co.,  448. 

farm,  the,  459. 

place,  the  Warren,  19,  28. 
Brimsmead,  William,  16. 
Brittan,  John  W.,  410. 
Broaders,  Hiram  L.,  341. 

Jacob,  193. 
Brocklebank,  Captain,  26. 
Brookfield,  22,  30,  103,  104,  142. 
Brooks,  John,  474. 
Brooks  &  Wells,  360, 


Brown,  Col.  Josiah,  146. 

Wilder  F.,  363. 

William,  265,  2S1. 

Rev.  William  L.,  232. 

University,  377. 
Bruce,  Abijah,  134,  138,  465. 

Thomas,  loi. 
Bryant,  Noyes,  361. 
Buchanan,  President,  246. 
Buck,  William  H.,  471, 
Buckminster,  Col.  Joseph,  457. 
Bull  Run,  256,  260. 

Second,  260. 
Bullard,  Edwm,  271,  397,  406,  468. 

Emory,  252,  28 1. 

Ethan,  252,  396,  465,  468. 

Francis  W.,  262,  268,  281,  396,  468. 

Hartwell,  407,  467. 

Israel  H.,  264,  281,  386,  389,  468. 

Martin,  233,  257,  281,  467. 
Bullock,  Alexander  H.,  476. 
Bunker  Hill,  164. 
Burbank,  L.  S.,  376, 
Burgess,  Charles  B.,  255,281. 
Burgoyne's  defeat,  169. 
Burial  lots,  210. 
Burke,  Rev.  R.  S.  J.,  240. 
Burnap,    Albert  J.,  257,  331,  332,  362, 
468,  470. 

Elijah,  224,  437. 

Henry  A.,  258,  264,  282,  468. 

John  S.,  252,  253,  271,  282,  329 

Forbes  &  Co.,  225,  362. 
Burns,  James,  258,  282. 

John,  252,282. 

Patrick,  259,  282. 
Burnside,  General,  267 
Burner,  James,  373,  376. 
Butler,  Benjamin  F.,  476,  477. 

John,  147. 

&  Mellen,  197. 
Byles,  Capt.  Joseph,  46,  47. 


Cady,  Rev.  Daniel  R.,  238,  335,  336. 

Canawagas,  the,  39,  481. 

Call,  George  L.,  267,  283. 

Calverly,  John,  267,  283. 

Cambridge,  164. 

Card,  William  J.,  265,  283. 

Carter,  Andrew  P.,  258,  283. 

Charles  S.,  257,  268,  270,  283,  329. 

James  D.,  267,  283. 
Caruth,  John,  147. 
Gary,  Thomas,  258,  283. 
Casey,  Rev.  Edmund  D.,  424. 


INDEX. 


487 


Casey,  Patrick,  249,  258,  283. 
Cavey,  Michael,  265,  284. 
Cedar  Swamp,  3,  101,  422. 
Celebration,     church,    335 ;    centennial, 

336-343- 
Cemetery,  appropriations  for,  370. 
Centennial  Park,  334. 
Central  Block,  334,  389,  396. 
Chairs,  manufacture  of,  357,  358. 
Chamberlain,  Calvin,  250. 

Daniel,  198,  204,  215,  216,  382,  465, 
467. 

Ebenezer,  198,  466. 

Edwin  M.,  477. 

Henry,  447. 

Jason,  352. 

Joseph,  163. 

Joshua,  163. 

Luther,  224,  225. 

Nathaniel,  163. 

Samuel,  407,  468. 

Spencer,  252,  284. 
Champney,  Hannah,  71. 

Mary,  71,  105. 

Samuel,  71. 
Chandler,  John,  43. 
Chapin,  David  N.,  262,  269,  284,  326. 

Theodore  F.,  402. 
Chapman,  Lorenzo  A.,  258,  284. 
Charleston,  S.  C,  247. 
Charlton,  355. 
Chase,  Frederick  D.,  264,  284. 

Henry  L.,  387,  389,  468. 
Chauncy,  Charles,  16, 17. 

Engine,  226,  337,  385,  386. 

Farm,  17. 

Hose  Company,  390. 

Meadow,  15. 

Pond,  3,  5,  18,  29,  31,  47,  193,  229, 

23i>  33^,  399)  479- 
Village,  18,  29,  33,  48,  185,  479. 
Cheese  factory,  353. 
Chevalier,  Napoleon,  264,  284. 
Chickering,    George   S.,  257,   268,   270, 

284,  329. 
Child,  Jonathan,  196. 
Josiah,  470. 

William  M.,  264,  285,  386,  415,  468, 
471. 
Childs,  Josiah,  396,  416,  469. 
Choir,  the  first,  157. 
Christian  Commission,  272. 
Christmas,  141. 

Chronotype,  the,  331,  391,  393,  420,  422. 
Church  government,  177-179;  life,   pha- 
ses   of,     120;    music,    1 12-1 1 7,    142, 


155-157;  order,  118-120;  records,  46, 

87,  236. 
Churchill,  Ezra,  264,  285. 
Civil    war,   cause,    245-246;    beginning, 

247  ;  Westborough  in,  248-273;  records 

of  soldiers  in,  274-327. 
Claflin,  William,  477. 
Clark,  Charles  E.,  264.  285. 
Clarke,  Annie  E.,  451. 
Clements,  Edward,  267,  2S5. 
Clemens,  Walter,  264,  285. 
Cleveland,  President,  396. 
Clifford,  John  H.,  476. 
Clinton,  too,  368. 
Clock  presented  to  town,  209,  225. 
Clocks,  manufacture  of,  355. 
Cloves,  Gardner,  225,  361,  384,  385,  467. 
Cobb,  Charles,  D.,  333,  427. 
Edward,  197. 

&  Co.'s  grain-store,  C.  D.,  389. 
Cobb's  Block,  224,  358,  395. 
Cochrane,  James,  361. 
Codman,  Charles  R.,  403. 
Cody,  Isaac,  197. 
Coil,  Rev.  E.  A.,  237. 
Cold  Harbor  Meadow,  15. 
Cole,  Jefferson  K.,  262,  285. 
Colfax,  Schuyler,  408. 
Collins,  Prof.  Lewis,  452. 
Comey,  Willard,  337,  365,  367. 
Committee  of  Correspondence,  158. 
Common,  the,  194. 
Communion  Service,  203,  236. 
Comstock,  Mrs.  Salmon,  251. 
Conant,  Mrs.  Mary  B.,  441. 

Thomas,  231,  232, 
Concord,  22,  162. 
Congregational  Calvinistic  Society,  234. 

Society,  First,  221,  224,  233,  235. 
Congress,    Continental,    160,    162,    165, 

174,338,339- 
Connecticut  road,  the,  22,  30,  104,  461. 
Conroy,  James,  265,  285. 
Constable,  first  chosen,  49;  52,  107,  108. 
Constitution,  state,  174,  175. 
Constitutional  convention,  175,  191. 
Converse,  Rev.  Otis,  232,  470. 

Sherman,  340,  415,  416,  465. 
Cook,  Rev.  H.  A.,  236. 

Stephen,  197. 
Coolidge.  Victor,  265,  286. 
Copeland,  John,  252,  262,  268,  270,  286, 

329- 
Thomas,  252,  260,  270,  286,  329. 
Corbett,  355. 
Elijah,  467. 


48! 


INDEX. 


Cordaville,  457. 
Corey,  Francis  E.,  406. 
Corner  Block,  334,  396,  397. 
Cornet  Band,  337. 
Comwallis'  Surrender,  184. 
Cotton,  Rev.  John,  441. 
Cotton-gin,  192,  246,  355,  435, 
Couch,  Darius  N.,  476. 
County,  Worcester, 

road,  104. 

tax,  370. 
Court,  General,  8,    17,    24,   42,  49,  57, 
141,  160. 

First  District,  of  Eastern  Worcester, 
397-398.  444.  452- 
Courts,  104. 

Covenant,  Westborough  Church,  82. 
Crain,  Rising  &  Co.,  359. 
Crane  Meadow,  15. 
Creamery  Association,  354. 
Cromack,  Rev.  J.  E.,  239. 
Cronican,  Patrick,  219. 
Cronin,  Rev,  C.  J.,  240. 
Cross,  Allen  W.,  259,  286. 
Cross  Street  factory,  359,  360. 
Crowe,  James,  265,  287. 

John,  262,  268,  287. 

Michael.  265,  287. 

Patrick,  262,  268,  269,  286,  327. 
Crowley,  John  H.,  252,  287. 
Crowninshield,  Benjamin  W.,  474. 
Cuddy,  Father,  240. 
Cummings,  Jr.,  Rev.  Gilbert,  237,  250, 

259,  264,  287. 
Currency,    Colonial,     57-58,    102,    168, 

171. 
Currying.  356. 
Curtis,  Charlotte  M.,  443. 

Jonathan,  443. 

Lucy  M.,  443. 

William,  135,  330,  338.341.380.387, 
408,  426;  biographical  sketch, 
442  ;  468. 

fund,  380. 

Hose  Company,  387. 
Cushing,  Rev.  Mr.,  480. 

Caleb,  475. 

Rev.  John  R.,  239. 

Thomas,  472. 

William,  473. 
Cushman,  Wallace  H.,  252,  260,  287. 

Danforth,  Samuel,  172. 

grants,  458. 
Dark  day,  the,  1 82-1 84. 

morning,  422. 


Dartmouth  College,  433. 

Daughters  of   Rebecca,   Laurel    Degree 

Lodge,  No.  44,  409. 
Davenport,  Alvan,  333,  426. 

Alvan  N.,  427. 
David,  Abinielech,  28. 
Davis,  George,  191. 

George  L.,  259,  267,  288. 

Isaac,  47,  190,  191,  356,  475,  476. 

John,  475. 

M.  Gilman,  406. 

Theodore  L.,  258,  288. 
Day,  John  E.,  373,  376,  427. 

Rev.  J.  S.,  239. 

L.  P.,  338. 
Deacons  chosen,  92. 
Dean,  Rev.  Artemas,  238,  335. 
Dearborn,  Henry,  474. 
Dee,  John,  258,  288,  426. 

William,  255,  288. 
"  Deer  reeves,"  106. 
Deerfield.  23,  36. 
De  Forest,  Rev.  Heman   P.,  238,   335, 

3381  340.  344.  379.  398.  406. 
Delano,  Reuben,  262,  288. 
Delevenne,  Godfried,  267,  288. 
Democratic  party,  212,  246,  266. 
Denfeld,  Frank  F.,  367. 

Louis  E.,  342,  380,  465. 
Denison,  Major-General,  24. 
Denny,  George,  227,  22S,  352,  358,  3S4, 

385,  403,  407,  432,  4'64- 

estate,  George,  370. 

William,  259,  271,  288,  329. 
Devens,  Jr..  Charles,  476. 
Dewson,  Francis  H.,  403. 
Dexter,  Aaron,  473. 

Samuel,  474. 
Diary,   Rev.   Ebenezer   Parkman's,    88, 

91,  94,  105,  III,  124. 
Dinan,  Dennis  D.,  33S,  396. 
Districts,  school,  109,  143. 
Division  of  town,  107 -112,  480. 
Doherty,  James,  259,  288. 
Dolan,  Michael,  258,  265,  288. 

John,  389. 
Donovan,  Byron,  257,  289. 

Ira  L.,  252,  289. 

Jackson,  255,  289. 

James,  338. 

Rev.  R.  J.,  240. 
Dooley,  Edmund  T.,  402. 
Dorchester,  164,  169. 
Dorr,  Rev.  Joseph,  81,  85. 
Douglas,  George  R.,  252,  265,  289. 

Stephen  A.,  246,  248. 


INDEX. 


489 


Drayton,  Charles,  252,  289. 

Drafting,  262. 

Drinking  habits,  early  settlers,  53. 

Driscoll,  Timothy,  267,  269,  270,  290,  329. 

Drummond,  William  H.,  264,  290. 

Dudley,  Edwin  A.,  262,  290. 

Joseph,  454. 
Dummer,  William,  65. 
Dunlap,  E.  E.,  414. 

&  Son,  D.  S.,  332,  367,  410. 
Dunn,  Patrick,  264,  290. 
Dunning,  M.  V.,  361. 
Durgin,  James  F.,  265,  290, 
Dyer,  Thomas  B.,  255,  290. 

Eager,  Bezaleal,  192,  465,  466,  470. 

James,  46,  55,  63,  67,  103,  132,  465, 
466,  470. 
Eagle  Block,  334,  389. 
Earle,  William  H.,  478. 
Earthquakes,  92,  128,  142,  421. 
Eastern  Star,  Order  of,  Bethany  Chap- 
ter, No.  13,  410, 
Eastman,  Mattie  J.,  379. 
Eaton,  Gov.  Theophilus,  459. 

grant,  459-461. 
Edmands,  William  H.,  258,  290. 
Education,  colonial  days,  96-100. 
Edwards,  Henrietta  F.,  435. 

Rev.  Jonathan,  122,  123. 

Pierrepont,  435. 
Egan,  Rev.  P.,  240,  341. 
Election,  Presidential  (i860),  246,  248  ; 
(1864),  266. 

Gubernatorial,  472-478. 
Electric  lights,  426. 
Eliot,  Jacob,  62,  63,  69. 

John,  4,  5,  8,  10,  II,  13. 
Elmer,  Rev,  Daniel,  48,  51,  59,  127,  480. 
Elwell,  Louis  J.,  337. 
Emerson,  Rev.  C.  W.,  237,  340. 

Rev.  J.  H.,  239. 
Emery,  George  F.,  252,  291. 
Emmons,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  203. 
Endicott,  William  C,  477. 
Engine-house,  387-388,  426. 
England,  Church  of,  140. 
Enlistments  (in    Revolution),   169;    (in 

Civil  War),  269-270. 
Entwishill,  Edward,  163. 
Episcopal  services,  240. 
Esty,  Edward  S.,  255,  291. 
Eustis,  William,  474. 
Evangelical   Society,   235,  237-239,  333, 

335- 


Evans,  Benjamin,  402. 

Eliza,  331. 
Everett,  Edward,  475. 
Exposition,  Centennial,  336. 


Factory  Association,  423. 
Fairbanks,  Aimer  R.,  269,  292. 
Fairbanks,  Benjamin  N.,  259,  292,  363. 

Charles  A.,  264,  292. 

Corning,  361,  363,  385,  389. 

George  W.,  262,  292. 

Freeman,  264,  265,  291. 

Henry  A.,  252,  264,  292. 

Hollis  H.,  252,  260,  270,  291. 

John  W.,  255,  291,385,  471. 

Joseph  H.,  252,  291,  363,  385. 

Willard  W.,  266,  292. 
Faneuil  Hall,  153. 
Fanin,  James,  267,  293. 
Fannon,  Bernard,  258,  265,  293. 
Farley,  Father,  240. 
Faulkner,  David  B.,  264,  294,  389. 

Jr.,  Festus,  257,  264,  294. 
Fay,  Adam,  147. 

Asa,  47. 

Benjamin,  138,  146,  160,  196,  370, 
466,  469. 

Jr.,  Benjamin,  370,  382,  467. 

Betty,  124. 

Charles  E.,  338. 

Charles  M.,  252,  293. 

Cyrus,  397. 

David,  233,  467. 

Daniel,  467. 

Elizabeth,  82. 

Gershom,  40,  46,  47,  52. 

Jasper,  10 1. 

Jeduthun,  138,  196. 

Joanna  Phillips,  432. 

John,  19,  20,  34,  46,  49,  51,  52,  55, 
57,  62,  66,  81,  89,  92,  95,  102, 146, 
163,  196,  434,  460,  465,  466,  46S, 
469. 

John  R.,  407. 

Jonas,  470. 

Jonathan,  loi,  154,  196,  432,  467. 

Josiah,  467. 

Mrs.  Mary,  40. 

Nathaniel,  198. 

Samuel,  20,  34,  46,  52,  94,  197, 
460. 

Solomon,  465,  467. 

S.  Dexter,  330,  339,  340. 

S.  Taylor,  330,  465. 

Thaddeus,  193. 


490 


INDEX. 


Fay,  Timothy,  466,  469. 

Rev.  W.  Walcott,  239. 

Waldo  L.,  264,  267,  293. 

William  W.,  251,  264,  265,  293. 

Zeduthun,  467. 

&  Brigham,  224. 

farm,  the,  20,  43,  46,  96,  459. 
"  Fays,  houses  of  the,"  460. 
Fayerweather,  George  J.,  255,  294. 

George   T.,  257,  264,  266,  294,  337, 

387. 
John,  203,  224,  437. 
John  A.,  224,  257,   331,   352,   370, 
396,  397,  403,  407,  410,  414  ;  bio- 
graphical   sketch,  437;    448,  465, 
468,  469,  470. 
Mrs.  John  A,,  251, 
Sarah,  438. 
Federalists,  212, 
Fence-viewers,  52,  56. 
Ferguson,  George  A.,  257,  295. 

Henry  C,  257,  295. 
Fessenden,  John,  197. 
"  Fiddleneck,"  456,  457. 
Field-driver,  52. 
Fire  department,  appropriations  for,  370, 

383-390- 

engine,  purchased,  226. 
Fires,  331,  334,  423. 
Fish,  Rev.  Elisha,  202. 
Fisher,  Aaron,  197. 

Albert  L.,  471. 

Charles,  465 . 

Charles  P.,  257,  295. 

Francis,  471. 

G.  Milton,  413. 

George  N.,  352. 

Jabez  G.,  407,  467,  468. 

Milton  M.,  395,  406. 

Nahum,  228,  362,  403,  406,  407,  467, 
468,  470. 

Nathan,  175,  191,  196,  394,465,  467, 
468,  470. 

Nathan  A.,  219,  233,  356. 

Nathan  E.,  407,  470. 

Nathaniel  E.,  361,  467. 

S.  Deane,  352,  407. 

Mrs.  S.D.,  272. 

Samuel,  197,  467,  469. 

William,  255,  259,  295. 

&  Lothrop,  219. 
Fisher's  Mill,  389. 
Fitch  &  Co.,  George  E.,  353. 
Fitch  burg,  355,  368. 
Flagg,  Henry  C,  262,  295. 
Flanders,  Rev.  C.  W.,  232,  233,  330. 


Flanders  road,  195. 

Fletcher,  George  W.,  267,  296. 

William  C,  264,  295. 
Flinn,  Patrick,  266,  296. 
Florida,  247. 

Fly,  John,  252,  263,  270,  296,  329. 
Fogg,  Shaw,  Thayer  &  Co.,  360, 
Forbes,  Archibald,  408. 

Baxter,  271,  362,  468. 

Catherine  W.,  451. 

Daniel,  i5o,  161,  461,470. 

Daniel  H.,  403,  470. 

Daniel  W.,  2^2,  362. 

Rev.  Eli,  481. 

Elijah,  444. 

Elisha,  197. 

Ephraim  T.,  407,  451. 

Frank  W.,  367,  380,  404. 

George,  359,  360,  468. 

Harriette  M.,  452. 

John,  166. 

Rev.  John  P.,  237. 

Jonathan,   196,   382,  407,  451,  460, 

467,  469,  470. 
Joseph  W.,  468. 
Phineas,  197,  467. 
Simeon,  163. 

William  T.,  387,  398,  414,  426  ;  bio- 
graphical sketch,  451;    454,  465, 

468,  471. 
Willis  A.,  262,  296. 
&  Fisher,  362. 

&  Son,  D.  W.,  362. 
name,  the,  47,  94. 
sleigh  factory,  362. 
Forbush,  Aaron,  46,  465. 
Abigail,  82. 

Alonzo  G.,  264,  265,  296. 
Asa,  196. 
Benjamin  F.,  385. 
Caleb  W.,  469. 
Coolidge,  233. 
Daniel,  466. 
Dinah,  139. 
Dorcas,  82. 
Ebenezer,  198. 
Eli,  142. 
Isaac,  467. 
Joel,  467. 

Jonathan,  47,  104,  142,  465,  466. 
Jr.,  Jonathan,  138. 
Lowell,  468. 
Rufus,  197,  467. 
Samuel,    34,   51,   52,   94,    198,  233, 

465,  467. 
Jr.,  Samuel,  467. 


INDEX. 


491 


Forbush,  Thomas,  34,  46,  47,  50,  52,  55, 
81,  102,  116,   133,  466,  469,  470. 

Jr.,  Thomas,  466,  468. 

William  H.,  252,  260,  296. 
Foster,  Alfred  D.,  399. 

Henry  S.,  258,  296. 

John  A.,  258,  297. 

Nancy  H.,  440. 
Fourth  of  July,  336. 
Fox,  Charles  B.,  253. 
Framingham,  81,  100,  457. 

Tribune,  394. 
Franklin,  203. 

Benjamin,  61. 

James,  61. 
Freeman,  Henry  A.,  269,  297. 
French,  Nancy  D.,  441. 

Revolution,  212. 
Fulham,  Francis,  45. 


Gage,  General,  39,  160,  162. 

Rev.  Nathaniel,  236. 
Gale,  Abijah,   145,   160,    196,   202,  465, 
467. 

Amsden,  163. 
Gardner,  368. 

Henry  G.,  476. 
Garrison  houses,  23,  40. 
Gashett,  Henry,  147. 
Gaston,  William,  477. 
Gates,  General,  169. 

Pamelia,  441. 
Gay,  Ebenezer,  196. 
George  HI.,  king,  150,  151. 
Georgia,  247. 
Gerry,  Elbridge,  473,  474. 
Gettysburg,  Fa.,  260,  263. 
Gibson,  Father,  240. 
Gilbert,  Timothy,  356. 
Gill,  Rev.  B.,  239. 

Moses,  473. 
Gilmore,  John  A.,  264,  297. 

Stephen  A.,  366. 
Glazier,  Rev.  N.  Newton,  233. 
Gleason,  Elijah,  370. 

Phinehas,  197,  464,  467,  468,  470. 

Jr.,  Phineas,  163. 

Zebina,  257,  32S,  370. 
Glidden,  John,  252,  297. 
Godfrey,  Capt.  James,  163, 164, 170,  197. 

Lucy,  439. 
Good  Templars,  Welcome  Lodge,  No. 

150,  409. 
Goodhue,  Rev.  J.  A., 233. 
Goodnow,  Mary,  40,  41. 


Goodnow,  Samuel,  19,  34,  40,  46,  47, 166. 
Gookin,  Major,  4,  9,  21. 
Gore,  Christopher,  473. 
Goss,  Charles  A.,  264,  265,  297. 
Gould,  Harriet,  453. 
James,  163. 
Mary  H.,  440,  447. 
Rufus,  447. 
Sarah  F.,  448. 
William,  453. 

William  R.,  361,  370,  413,  427,  438, 
440  ;  biographical  sketch,  447  ;  468. 
&  Walker,  360,  361,  370,  423,448. 
Gould's  Block,  427. 
"  Gov.  Lincoln,"  steamer,  334. 
Governor,  votes  for,  472-478. 
Grafton,  5,  8,  34,  123,  125,  146,201,203, 

237,353-  355, 3987  454,470. 
Graham,  Roland,  267,  297. 
Grammar  School,  226,  373. 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  John  Sedg- 
wick Post,  No.  21,  411  ;  A.  G.  Biscoe 
Post,  No.  80,  412. 
Grand  Army  Block,  359,  375,  413,  427. 
Grange,  No.  116,  P.  of  H.,  407. 
Grant,  General,  263. 
Graves,  G.  W.,  338. 
Gray,  William  J.,  368. 
Great  Middle  Meadow,  35. 
Green,  John,  105. 
Joseph,  197. 
Jr.,  Joseph,  467. 
Myron  D.,  262,  26S,  297. 
Greene,  Rev.  Benjamin  A.,  233,  339,  341. 
Mary  E.,  272. 
Mrs.  Nathaniel,  434. 
Greenwood,  Abner  R.,  251,  252,  253,  298. 
Charles,  255,  298. 
Charles  O.,  259,  298. 
Enoch,  196. 

William  H.  H.,  262,  268,  269,  270, 
298,  326,  329. 
Gregory,  Daniel,  220. 
Gregory's  Inn,  220,  227. 
Gregson,  Rev.  John,  240. 
Griffin,  Rev.  Thomas,  424,  425. 
Griggs,  Clark  R.,  470. 
Samuel,  228. 

Samuel  M.,  87,  334,  33;,  379,  397, 
436  ;  biographical  sketch,  445  ;  468, 
469,  470. 
&  Co.'s  Block,  219. 
Grimke,  Archibald  H.,  403. 
Groton,  22,  26. 
Grout,  James,  138. 
Jonathan,  467. 


492 


INDEX. 


Grout,  Joseph,  460,  466. 

Joshua,  169,  196. 

Moses,  467,  470. 

Samuel,  467. 

Susanna,  433. 
Grove  Street  school-houses,  374. 


Hadley,  23. 

Hale,  George  F.,  257,  299. 

Halloway,  William,  466. 

Hammock,  Mrs.  Sarah,  433. 

Hampshire  County,  103. 

Hancock,  John,  472,  473. 

Hanley,  Francis,  259,  270,  299,  329. 

Hannon,  Michael  C,  258,  299. 

Haraden,  George  C,  252,  253,  271,  299, 

329- 

John  W.,  255,  299. 
Hardy,  Aaron,  101. 

Charles  H.,  257,  299. 

Jr.,  Daniel,  163. 

Elijah,  196. 

Phinehas,   loi,  160,    191,  231,  465, 
466. 

Jr.,  Phineas,  163. 
Harlow,  Albert  E.,  269,  326. 
Harmon,  Captain,  68. 
Harmony  Conference,  217. 
Harnesses,  manufacture  of,  357. 
Harper's  Ferry,  263. 
Harrenslayer,  Frederick,  267,  299. 
Harrington,  Benjamin,  197. 

Caleb,  163. 

Charles  A.,  264,  299,  337. 

Charles  L.,  255,  300. 

Edwin  F.,  264,  300. 

Eli,  163. 

Francis,  258,  300. 

Frank  A.,  252,  300. 

Fred  G.,  468. 

George,  47. 

John,  163,  197. 

Joseph,  161,  197,  202,  467. 

Lawson,  355,  468,  470. 

Nahum,  470. 

Samuel,  138,  467. 

S.  A.,  47. 
Harris,  Henry  A.,  255,  270,  300,  329. 

Thomas,  459. 
Harrison,  President,  396. 

John  K.,  267,  300. 
Hart,  John  A.,  262,  268,  270,  301,  329. 
Hartwell,  George  E.,  258,  301. 
Harvard,  355. 
Harvard  College,  17,  61,  147,  377. 


Harvey,  Abby,  449. 

Kev.  Adiel,  232. 

Eben,  448. 

Edwin  B.,  373,  374,  393,  403 ;  bio- 
graphical sketch,  448;  471. 

Rozella  W.,  448. 
Haskell,   Abner  W.,  255,  269,  270,  301, 

329- 

Asa,  231. 

Charles  B.,  264,  301. 

Lyman,  252,  268,  301. 

Phineas,  196. 
Hassanemesits,  the,  28. 
Hassanemisco,  5,  8,  19,  30,  103,  454. 
Hastings,  2d  Timothy  F.,  468. 
Hatch,  Rev.  J.  L.,  237. 
Hathaway,  Bowers  C,  264,301,389,414, 

468. 
Haven,  Hiram,  469. 
Haverhill,  36. 

Hawes,  James,  160,  161,  162,  191,  196, 
202,  465,  467,  468,  469,  470. 

Jr.,  James,  231. 

Josiah,  34. 
Hayden,  John,  337. 
Haynes,  John,  18,  34,  459. 

Josiah,  18,  34. 

Peter,  34. 

farm,  the,  12,  34,  43. 
Hayward,  James,  269,  302. 

Simeon,  49,  466. 
Hazzard,  Thomas  R.,  267,  302. 
Heaphy,  Patrick,  265,  302. 
Hearse,  first,  210. 
Hemenway,  W.  A.,  391. 
Henry,  Charles   S.,  264,  302,  380. 
410,414,  427,441. 

John  E.,  468. 

Mary,  440. 

Mary  C,  441. 

M.  &  J.  E.,  460. 

Nancy,  440. 

Polly  G.,  440. 

Samuel,  440. 

Samuel  G.,  334;  biographical  sketch, 
440. 

Block,  334. 

place,  the  Miletus,  46. 
Hero,  Dr.  J.  H.,  377,  378. 
Hervey,  Rev.  Nathaniel,  232. 
Hevvins,  Jeremiah,  365. 
Hibernians,   Ancient  Order  of,   Division 

No.  20,  338,  410. 
Hides,  tanned  and  curried,  356,  357. 
High  School,  226,  373,  375-377- 

house,  239. 


INDEX. 


493 


Highways,  appropriations  for,  56,  370. 
Hildreth,  Rev.  Hosea,  236. 
Hill,  John  M.,  258,  302. 
Historical  Society,  Westborough,  211. 
Hobomoc,  5,  6,  479. 

Hockomocko  Lodge  No.  79,  I.  O.  O.  F., 
409. 

Pond,  3,  193. 

Relief  Association,  409. 
Hodgkins,  Hiram  G.,  252,  302. 
Holbrook,  Daniel,  395. 

Jr.,  Daniel,  467. 
Holland,  James  H.,  262,  302,  333. 

W.  J.,  376. 
Holliston,  125,  239. 
Holloway,  Adam,  46,  47,  210. 

William,  iS,  50,  63. 

and  Wheeler  farm,  18. 
Holmes,  R.  G.,  358. 

&Co.,  C.  M.,359. 

factory,  389. 
Holton,  R.  F.,  393. 
Homan,  John,  328. 

&  Child,  224. 

&  Peters,  224. 
Hooker,  Rev.  Thomas,  461. 
Hopkins,  Rev.  Samuel,  iSo,  191. 
Hopkinton,  7,  66,  69,  100,  201,  203,  239, 

250,  353,  357,  457- 
Horse-neck,  169. 

Horton,  Myron  J.,  258,  264,  303. 
Hotel  erected,  220. 

Westborough,  220. 
Hovey,  Charles  H.,  252. 
How,  Colonel,  69. 

Eliezer,  34. 

John,  II. 

Samuel,  462. 
Howard,  Charles  H.,  413. 

Rev.  E.  A.,  239. 

Simeon,  46,  47. 

Brook,  19. 
Howe,  Charles  M.,  265,  303. 

Charles  S.,  264,  303. 

Edward  C,  471. 

Hezekiah,  46,  138. 

John  W.,  264,  303, 

Samuel  I.,  471. 

Silas  B.,  248,  249,  271,  468. 

Capt.  Thomas,  36. 

place,  Austin,  46. 
"     Silas,  334. 

house,  the  S.  A.,  460. 
Hoyt,  Albert  E.,  394. 
Hubbard,  Samuel,  474. 

Rev.  W.  M.,  239. 


Hudson,  3,  14. 

Edward,  258,  264,  265,  303. 

Joseph,  147. 
Hull,  458. 

Hunt,    Wellington     L.    G.,    224,    395, 
396. 

&  Kimball,  359. 
Huntoon,  Rev.  Benjamin,  236. 
Hutchinson,  Capt.  Edward,  23. 

Orville  K.,  402. 
Hydrants,  387,  420. 


Independence,    Declaration  of,    174, 

339- 
Fort,  251,  253. 

Indian  history  and  legend,  4-9 ;  names, 
5,  9;  treatment  by  earliest  settlers,  10- 
II  ;  character,  21,  27 ;  attack  on  Marl- 
borough, 26 ;  attack  on  Chauncy  village, 
36,  481  ;  murder  of  Mary  Goodnow, 
40 ;  titles,  454. 

Insane  Hospital,  Westborough,  345,  403- 
452. 

Insurance  Orders,  411. 

Ipswich,  125. 


Jackson,  E.  P.,  376. 

G.  J.,  338.- 

Josiah,  386. 

William,  475. 

No.  2,  Steamer,  338,  386,  390. 
Jackstraw  Brook,  416,  417,  461. 

hill,  6,  461,  462. 

old  line,  461. 

pasture,  6,  461. 
Jacob's  meadow,  1 7. 
James,  Black,  455. 
Janes,  Elijah  C,  264,  303. 
Jaquith,  O.  C,  337. 
Jefferson,  Thomas,  212. 
Joan,  Antonio,  262,  268,  304,  334. 
Johnson,  John  W.,  258,  304. 

William,  198,  206. 

William  H.,  258,  304,  460. 

W.  W.,  368. 
Johnston,  General,  269. 
Jones,  Charles  P.,  395. 

John,  251,  264,  265,  304. 

Samuel  R.,  264,  304. 
Journal,  Marlborough,  229. 
Joy,  George  M.,  392. 
Judd,  Abbie  F.,  414. 

Rev.  Burtis,  239. 
Judson,  Rev.  Adoniram,  199,  201. 


494 


INDEX. 


Keane,  Bishop,  424. 

Keevan,  Edward,  258,  266,  304. 

Keith,  Ellen  L.,  404. 

Kellog,  Mr.,  39. 

Kelly,  John,  266,  305. 

Kemp,  Francis  E.,  257, 268, 270, 305, 329. 

Kendrick,  Sachem,  39. 

Kerly,  Henry,  33,  34,  35. 

Kidder,  Mrs.  Ann  M.  M.,  442. 

Charles  W.,  264,  266,  305. 
Kilkenny,  Patrick,  266,  305. 
Kimball,  Frederick  W.,  255,  305,  360. 

James  M.,  356. 

Noah,  468, 

William  B.,  251,  305. 

&  Co.  J.  B.,  224,  356,  J57-358,  359- 

factory,  the,  358,  359. 

Factory  Association,  360. 
Kinders,  Samuel  B.,  269,  327. 
King,  Rev.  Alonzo,  232. 

Samuel,  231. 

Thomas,  19. 
Kirkup,  Charles  A.,  262,  26S,  306. 

James  S.,  267. 
Kittredge,  Rev.  Charles  B.,  238,  335,  336. 
Knight,  Dr.  Henry  S.,  446. 
Knights  of  Labor,  Westborough  Assem- 
bly, No.  4191,  412. 
Knowlton,  Nathan  M.,  6,  461. 

William,  250. 
Knowlton's  shop,  364. 
Krakatau,  421. 


Lackey,  Charles  T.,  264,  306. 

George  A.,  267,  306. 

John,  252,  307. 

Robert  S.,  258,  306. 
Laflin,  John,  261,  307. 
Lakin,  George  B.,  265,  307. 

Mrs.  S.  B.,  251. 
Lamson,  Charles  H.,  266,  307. 
Lancaster,  22,  25,  81,  100,  103. 

C.  B.,  360. 
Land-owners,  earliest,  15-20,  454-464. 

grants,  454-464- 
Lathrop,  Andrew  J.,  376. 

Joseph,  465. 
La'.:rel  Hill  Association,  410. 
Law,  Emerson,  367. 
Lawrence,  Amos  A.,  476. 
Leach,  James,  407. 
Leather,  Sealer  of,  52. 
Lebanon,  Conn.,  203,  217. 
Lebeau,  Joseph,  264,  307. 
Lee,  General,  263,  269. 


Lee,  Edward,  252,  307. 
Leesboro',  Md.,  260, 
Leicester,  103,  123. 
G.  v.,  368. 
Piano  Co.,  ^33,  368. 
Leighton,  Hazon,  387. 
Leland,  John,  233. 

Luther  K.,  398. 
Lenard,  Mr.,  67. 
Leominster,  390. 
Leonard,  Phoebe  J.,  403. 

Solomon,  196. 
Leverett,  Governor,  25. 
Lexington,  22,  166. 
Battle  of,  162. 
Libby,  Tristram,  356,  3S4. 
Library,  Public,  226-228,  379-380. 

Society,  Union,  227. 
Lincoln,  Dr.,  382. 

President,  246,  247,  24S,  256,  266. 
Benjamin,  472. 
Erastus  M.,  269,  307. 
Levi,  473,  474,  475. 
William  R.,  230,  402. 
Little,  John,  262,  307. 
Livermore,  Jonathan,  465,  466,  4S1. 

Mary  A.,  40S. 
Livingston,  Murray  V.,  368. 
Lloyd,  James,  474. 

Loker,  William  C,  264,  271,  308,  329. 
Long,  Charles  E.,  258,  308. 

John  D.,  477. 
Longley,  Charles  O.,  264,  308. 
George  A.,  264,  308. 
Joseph  G.,  258,  308. 
Jonas,  361,  3S4,  443,  465. 
Loring,  George  B.,  330. 

Rev.  Israel,  81,  86,  480. 
Lothrop,  Samuel,  474,  475. 

Thomas  L.,  477. 
Loughlin,  Richard,  266,  308. 
Louisiana,  247. 
Lovell,  Alden,  252,  260,  309. 
Lovering,  Harry  B.,  478. 
Lowbeed,  Robert  H.,  267,  309. 
Lowd,  Albert  L.,  269,  327. 

Charles  Q.,  258,  262,  309. 
Lowell,  Edward,  262,  309. 
Lucas,  Elisha  S.,  309. 
Lunenberg,  103. 
Lydius,  Col.,  37,  39. 
Lyman  School  for  Boys,  53,  229-230,  338, 

398-403- 
Theodore,  229,  399. 
Street,  30. 
Lynch,  Michael,  252,  268,  309. 


INDEX- 


495 


Magner,  William,  262,  26S,  309,  338. 

Maguire,  Patrick,  338,  363. 

Maguncook  Mill,  456. 

Mahoney,  James,  259,  310. 

Mails,  396. 

Main  Street,  30. 

Mainerd,  Jr.,  John,  34. 

Malloy,  Mrs.,  409. 

Mann,  Charlotte,  452. 
David  P.,  467. 
Horace,  476. 
Salmon,  452. 
Samuel  W.,  266,  310,  337. 

Manteo,  7. 

Manufactures,  355-356;  statistics  of,  357, 
368;  boots  and  shoes,  357-361  ;  sleighs, 
361-363  ;  straw  hats,  363-366  ;  bricks, 
366 ;  boxes,  366 ;  sewing-machines, 
367  ;  trellises,  367  ;  bicycles,  367-368  ; 
pianos,  368. 

Marble,  Henry,  163,  172,  173,  174. 

March  meetings,  52  ;  moderators  of,  465. 

Marlborough,  3,  5,  9;  early  history,  15- 
34  ;  40,  81,  100,  104,  123, 127, 146, 151, 

193,  2°3.  392,  455)  458.  459- 
Marc,  191. 
Marrotte,  J.,  389. 
Marsh,  Jeremiah  \V.,  262,  268,  270,  310, 

329- 
Marshall,  J.  F.  B.,  249,  250,  260,  470. 

Mrs.  J.  F.  B.,  251. 

Miss  M.  J.,  251,  272. 
Martin,  Thomas,  258,  311. 
Martyn,  Rev.  John,  20,  47,  480. 
Maryland,  263. 
Mason,  Lowell,  220. 

Masons,  F.  and  A.,Siloam  Lodge,  409-410. 
Massachusetts  Agricultural  College,  377. 

Historical  Society,  479. 

Indians,  4,  5. 

school-ship,  400. 
Mather,  Cotton,  115. 
Mayhew  grant,  455-458, 

Thomas,  455. 
Maynard,  Amasa,  163,  168,  197. 

Ann  M.,  442. 

Daniel,  466. 

David,   34,    46,  47,   49,   56.    59,  81, 
101,  138,  466. 

Ebenezer,  160,  197,  465,  469. 

Edward,  442. 

Horace,  5;  biographical  sketch,  441. 

James,  46,  107,  138,  442. 

Sir  John,  441. 

John,  46,  47,  52,  53,  55,  62,  67,  104, 
III,  134,  138,  145,  466. 


Maynard,  Jonathan,  197. 

Leonard,  233. 

Luther,  467. 

Moses  G.,  467. 

M.  A.,  469. 

Phinehas,  467. 

Solomon,  163,  198. 

Stephen,  13S,  153,  161, 162,  165, 190, 
'96,  197,  466,  469,  470. 

Washburn,  442. 

place,  the,  387. 
McCafferty,  Matthew  J.,  477. 
McCarthy,  Daniel,  268,  269,  310,  327, 

Rev.  Francis,  424. 

John,  267,  311. 

Patrick,  25S,  310. 
McClellan,  General,  256,  266. 
McCoy,  Rev.  J.  J.,  240,  424,  426. 

Michael,  258,  311. 

William,  266,  311. 
McCue,  Timothy,  266,  311. 
McCulloch,  John,  163,  164. 

Joseph,  163. 
McDonald,  James,  387. 
McEnamy,  T.,  426. 
McHough,  Thomas,  266,  311. 
McKendry,  George  A.,  265,  311. 
McLachlin,  E.  H.,  376. 
McNulty,  Richard,  267,  311. 
McPherson,  William  D.,  394. 
McTaggart,  James,  460. 
Mechanics'  Association,  227. 
Medfield,  22,  24,  103. 
Medway,  203. 

Meeting-House,  vote  to  build,  48,  50 ; 
land  given,  53;  description,  54-55; 
gallery  built,  loi ;  vote  to  enlarge, 
107;  new  meeting-house,  133-139,  153, 
162,  4S0  ;  steeple,  155,  20S ;  new  fea- 
tures, 208-209 ;  sold,  223-224. 
Mellen,  197. 

Joshua,  355,  380,  382,  467,  470. 

Joshua  N.,  355,  467. 
Memorial  Cemetery,  356. 
Mendon,  23,  81,  103,  203. 
Merrifield,  Harriette,  452. 

William  T.,  452. 
Messenger,  The,  424. 

Westborough,  228. 
Methodist  awakening,  118. 

church,  231,  239. 

parsonage,  427. 
Middle  Meadow,  15. 
Middlesex  County,  103. 
Milford,  202,  368,  405. 
Military  committee,  249,  254. 


496 


INDEX. 


Military  company,  210,  249,  251, 
Militia,  enrolled,  257,  258  ;  ordered  out, 

263. 
Milk  business,  351-354. 

Company,  Boston,  352. 

"         Westborough,  352, 

Producers'  Association,  353. 

Street  boot-shop,  360,  3S9,  423. 
Mill  site,  Abner  Prentiss's,  458. 
Miller,  Daniel  B.,  255,  270,  311,  329. 

Eben,  144,  197. 

Fortunatus,  163,  164. 

James,  138,  197,  461. 

Jr.,  James,  163,  465. 

Josiah  W.,  264,  312. 

Shadrach,  196,  231. 

William  A.,  264,  312. 
Mills,  Rev.  Edmund,  200,  201. 
Miner,  Alonzo  A.,  477. 
Minister,  colonial  days,  60-62,  70, 84,  117, 

176. 
Ministers'  Association,  151,  177. 

wooing,  Mrs.  Stowe's,  180. 

Worcester  Association  of,  1 1 9, 
Ministerial  farm,  35,  45,  51,  52,  59,  192, 

194. 
Minute-men,  162. 
Missionary  collection,  first,  180. 
Mississippi,  247. 
Mitchell,  Chauncy,  365. 

Lowell  P.,  266,  312. 

Rev.  William,  239. 
Mockley,  John,  257,312. 
Moderators,  March  meetings,  465. 
Montague,  Richard,  339. 

Urial,  389. 
Monument,  Soldiers',  328-330. 
Moody,  C.  C.  P.,  228,  392. 

John  W.,  264,  266,  312. 
Morin,  John,  259,  312. 
Morrissey,  Andrew,  266,  312. 
Morse,  Rev.  Abner,  436. 

David,  197. 

Elijah,  444. 

Elisha,  439. 

George  B.,  259,  313. 

Lyman,  471. 

Martha,  439. 

Patty,  439, 

Seth,  164,  169,  170,  197,  467,  469. 

Thomas,  197,  467. 

house,  the,  47. 

place,  Deacon,  461. 
Mortimer,  William,  262,  313. 
Morton,  Marcus,  474,  475. 
Moseley,  Rev.  William  O.,  236. 


Moses,  F.  W.,  337. 

Mount  Pleasant,  359,  462. 

Mudge,  Rev.  Z.  A.,  239,  338,  339,  342. 

Munnanaw,  David,  28. 

Murphy,  John,  267,  313. 

Patrick,  426. 

Thomas,  258,  264,  313. 
Music,  church,    1 12-1 17,   155-157,    204, 
209.  237,  242. 


Naggawoomcom,  5,  479, 
Naguncook,  8. 
Nails,  manufactured,  355. 
Nason,  Oliver,  196 

&  Co.,  J.  S.,  359. 
Natick,  455. 

National  Straw  Works,  451. 
New  Braintree,  25. 
New  England  Lasters'  Protective  Union, 

412. 
New  Haven,  201,  202. 
New  York,  164. 
Newbern,  N.  C,  259,  262. 
Newspapers,  colonial  days,  60-61  ;  mod- 
ern, 228-229,  391-394. 
Newton,  Deacon,  26. 

Abbie  F.,  440. 

Abner,  loi,  133,  469. 

Barnabas,  233,  439,  467,  469. 

Curtis,  470. 

Daniel  F.,  224,  359,  360,  370,  415; 
biographical  sketch,  439  ,  444,  465, 
46S,  469. 

Dexter,  398,  470,  471. 

Frank  A.,  264,  313,  440. 

Joseph,  31. 

Josiah,  46,  63,  93,  133,  138,  465,  466, 
469. 

Leander  W.,  471. 

Lucy  G.,  439. 

Moses,  359,  360,  444. 

Otis,  359,  468,  469. 

Thomas,  46,  47,  48,  49,  50,  51,  52, 
Si,  ioi,  466. 

Vashty,  138. 
Nichols,  Augustus  F.,  264,  313. 

Charles  C,  255,  313. 

Fortunatus,  231. 

Joseph,  231,  467. 
Niles,  Rev.  Mr.,  115. 
Nipmucks,  the,  5,  23,  454. 
"  No.  4  "  school-house,  334,  389. 
Nonantum,  8. 
Noon-house,  206. 
North,  Daniel,  198. 


INDEX. 


497 


North  Bridgewater,  229. 
Northborough,  3,  14,  15,  18,  19,  30,  34, 
35-  47,  '00,  104,  106, 145,  153, 191, 193, 
194,  201,  203,  210,  250,  331,  332,  334, 
353>  3981  459,  470,  4S0. 
Northfield,  23. 
Nottage,  Rev.  W.  A.,  239. 
Nourse,  B.  Alden,  19,  loi,  415,  464,468, 
471. 
Benjamin,  467. 

Benjamin   B.,   248,    249,    260,    271, 
367,  398,  414  ;  biographical  sketch, 
443;  46S. 
David,  359. 
Emma  S.,  444. 
Frank  L.,  444. 
Henry  B.,  338,  444. 
Lois,  443. 

S.  Whitney,  266,  314. 
Theophilus,  443. 
Walter  B.,  444. 
White  &  Co.,  367. 
place,  the,  389. 
Nowell,  Increase,  iS. 
Mrs.  Parnell,  iS. 
Nurse,  Daniel,  196. 

Oakes,  Nathaniel,  20,  46,  47,  109. 
O'Brien,  2d,  John,  363. 
Occupations,  statistics  of,  369. 
Odd  Fellows,   Hockomocko  Lodge,  No. 
79,  409. 

O'Dea,  Michael,  266,  314. 
Okommokamesit  Hill,  9,  11,  14,  21,  25, 

28,  30. 
"  Old  Arcade,"  The,  56,   133,  222,  359, 

409,  427. 
Oldham,  461. 

Olmsted,  Prof.  Denison,  435. 
Onomog,  9. 
Ordination,  Rev.  E.  Parkman's,  84-86. 

Rev.  E.  Rockwood's,  214. 

Rev.  J.  Robinson's,  202. 
Organ,  in  church,  209,  216,  22,7, 
Om,  Azor,  472. 
Orthodox  Church,  229. 
Otis,  James,  15,  ^58. 

Harrison  G.,  473. 
Oughtzorongoughton,  38,  481. 
Oulton  &  Peters,  224. 
Ountassogo,  39. 
Oxford,  103. 


Packard,  Rev.  Asa.  203. 
Benjamin  W.,  229. 


Paine.  Alice,  453. 

Charlotte  M.,  452. 

Henry  W.,  476. 

Horace  M.,  452. 

John  A.,  452. 

N.  Emmons,  403.  404  ;  biographical 
sketch,  452. 

Jr.,  N.  Emmons,  453. 
Palfrey,  John  G.,  476. 
Parentage,  statistics  of,  346. 
Park  Association,  406. 

Building,  427. 
Parker,  Charles  O.,  258,  264,  314. 

Gardner,  209,  355. 

George  W.,  271,  468. 

Hananiah,  160,  161,  470. 

Isaac,  197. 

Joel,  3S0,  465. 

J-  E-,  333,  364- 
Parker's  Folly,  355. 
Parkmr.n,  Ann  Sophia,  443. 

Anna,  432. 

Breck,  163,  196,  21 8,  219,  220;  bio- 
graphical sketch,  431  ;  433,  469. 

Charles,  211,  223,  227,  370,  383,395; 
biographical  sketch,  432,  469,  470, 
474- 

Charles  B.,  395,  407,  432 ;  biogrr.ph- 
ical  sketch,  433. 

Charlotte  S.,  432. 

Rev.  Ebenezer,  18,  39,  46,  51,  52,  55, 
62 ;  chosen  minister,  63-64  ;  jour- 
ney to  Westborough,  66 ;  estab- 
lishing church,  66-74,  81-84 ; 
ordination,  84-S6  ;  church  records 
and  diary,  87-89  ;  in  church  affairs, 
90-95  ;  salary,  102 ;  opposes  divi- 
sion of  town,  T09-111  ;  church 
music,  115-117;  119;  anniversary 
sermon,  125-130;  minister  of  first 
precinct,  131-132,  134;  family 
matters,  136;  140;  sermon,  147- 
150  ;  177  ;  asks  for  fire-wood,  181  ; 
health,  185;  death,  1S6;  charac- 
ter, 187-1S8;  epitaph,  1S9;  191, 
431 ;  history  of  Westborough,  479- 
481. 

Jr.,  Ebenezer,  106,  136,  185. 

Elias,  65,  66,  185. 

Rev.  Francis,  69. 

Hannah  B.,  432. 
"       S.,  432. 

Joanna,  432. 

Joanna  F.,  432. 

Lucy,  106.  .  . 

Lucy  P.,  432.  ' 


498 


INDEX. 


Parkman,  Lydia,  io6. 

Mary,  wife  of  Ebenezer,  82,  95,  105  ; 

daughter  of  Ebenezer,  106,  136. 
Maria  D.,  432. 
Mary  A.,  432. 
Robert  B.,  432. 
Samuel,  136,  20S,  432. 
Susan  B.,  432. 
Susannah  136,  432. 
Susannah  B.,  432. 
Thomas,  106,  136. 
William,  father  of  Ebenezer,  65  ;  son 

of  Ebenezer,  136. 
Building,  220,  224. 
store,  331.  379,  432.  433' 437- 
Parshley,  Rev.  J.  H.,  233. 
Parsonage  fund,  194,  202. 
Parsons,  William,  408. 
Patterson,  F.  W.,  366. 
Paupers,  144-145,  198. 
Pawtuckets,  the,  4. 
Peck,  Frank  E.,  367. 
Peninsular  Campaign,  256. 
Penniman,  Mr.  447. 
Pennsylvania,  263. 
Perrin,  Payson  H.,  3S5. 
Peters,  Andrew,  465,  467,  469. 
Miss  Hannah,  394. 
Lovett,  228,  380,  382,  407,  465,  467, 

470. 
Onslow,  395. 
farm,  the,  399. 
Petersburg,  267,  268. 
Philip.  King,  27. 
Philip's  War,  King,  21-28. 
Phillips,  Elijah  M.,  221,  468. 
Mrs.  E.  M.,  250,  272. 
Samuel,  472,  473. 
Stephen  C,  475,  476. 
Wendell,  408,  477. 
Street  school-house,  374,  426. 
Phinney,  Rev.  Barnabas,  238. 
Piano  movements,  manufacture  of,  356. 
Pianos,  manufacture  of,  368. 
Piccadilly,  220,  355,  363. 
Pierce,   Charles   H.,  229,  264,  314,  391, 
393,  415,  416,  4«7,  468. 
Rev.  Granville,  237. 
J-  H.,  359,  444. 
&  Jackson,  359. 
Pike,  Marshall  S.,  255,  314. 

Moses,  197. 
Pilgrims,  the,  8,  112. 
Pitman,  Robert  C,  476,  477. 
Ploughs,  manufacture  of,  357. 
Plymouth,  199. 


Pokanokets,  the,  4. 
Polls,  number  of,  371, 
Poor,  appropriations  for,  370,  381,  383; 
care  of,  380  ;  overseers  of,  first  chosen, 
145. 
Population,  statistics  of,  344-345. 
Port  Hudson,  La.,  262. 
Porter,  Winfield  P.,  413. 
Post-office,  24S,  331,  394-397. 

Block,  220,  22S,  366,  396,  397,  410. 
Potomac,  256. 

Pound,  the  town,  56,  loi,  144. 
Powder-house,  built,  211. 
Powers,  F.  W.,  337. 

Michael,  257,  314. 
Pratt,  Bathsheba,  82. 

Charlotte  M.,  443. 

Edward,  454. 

Isaiah,  124. 

John,  46,  47,  48,  50,  56,  465,  466. 

Jr.,  John,  46. 

Lucius  G.,  403. 

Martin,  197. 

Col.  Nymphas,  443. 

Phineas,  narrative  of,  7. 

Silas,  1 11. 
Precinct,  the  first,  131. 

second,  145. 
Prentice,  Rev.  John,  81,  85,  480. 
Prentiss,  Abner,  458. 
Prescott  &  Son,  A.  J.,  393. 

W.  W.,  393. 

T-,  389. 
Prices,  regulation  of,  167-168. 
Priest,  Edmund  H.,  266,  314. 
Prince,  Frederick  O.,  478. 
Printing-office,  391, .394. 
Protective  Union  Shoe,  334,  389. 
Providence,  169. 
Prudential  Committee,  372,  273- 
Psalm-book,  Ainsworth's,  112:  Bay,  113- 

114. 
Psalms,  Tate  and  Brady's,  155-156. 
Puffer,  Rev.  Reuben,  203 
Putnam,  J.  Brainard,  468. 

QUABOAG,  23. 

Quinn,  James  E.,  338. 
Martin,  266,  315. 
Quinsigamond,  462. 

Railroad,  Boston   &  Worcester,   220, 
223. 
station,  335. 
Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  6,  7. 
Rantoul,  Robert,  399. 


INDEX. 


499 


Rasle,  Sebastian,  6S. 
Rattlesnakes,  31. 
Raymond,  Charles  E.,  342. 

George  H.,  271,  332,  3^^,  342,  468. 

Mrs.  George  H.,  441. 
Readville,  263,  265. 
Redican,  Rev.  J.  F.,  424. 
Rediet,  John,  20. 
Reed,  Daniel,  196. 

William  A.,  367,  397,  406. 
Reform  Club,  40S. 
Reform  School  (see  Lyman  School). 
Regiment,  Fiftieth,  25S,  262. 

Fifty-first,  257,  258,  259,  262,  412. 

Fifty-seventh,  261,  262,  267,  268. 

Fifty-sixth,  261. 

Fourth  (H.  A.).  265, 

Second  N.  C,  272. 

Sixth,  248. 

Thirteenth,  251-253,  258,  260,  262, 
26S,  272. 

Thirty-fourth,  256,  260,  263. 

Thirty-seventh      (U.      S.      colored 
troops),  272. 

Twenty-first,  259. 

Twenty-second,  255. 
Reilly,  Thomas  H.,  468. 
Relief  Association,  Firemen's,  388. 

"  Hockomocko,  409. 

"  Massachusetts,  272. 

Religion,  in  colony,  49-50,  74-81,  147- 

150. 
Remington,  Jonathan,  43,  45. 
Representatives,  470-471. 

first  chosen,  103. 
Republican  party,  212,  246,  266. 
Rescue  Hook  &  Ladder  Co.,  3S7,  390. 
Reservoirs,  386. 
Restorationist  Society,  233. 
Revolutionary  War,  beginning  of,    150- 

i53>  158-176. 
Rice,  Adonijah,  37,  38,  198. 

Alexander  H.,  477. 

Amos,  257,  315. 

Anna,  20,  81. 

Asaph,  47,  481. 

Asher,  ^7,  38,  39. 

Beriah,  loi. 

Caleb,  459, 

Charles,  46,  138,  147,  466. 

Charles  A.,  259,  315. 

Charles  P.,  330,  407,  468,  470. 

Ebenezer,  481. 

Edmund,  20,  34,  37,  40,  46,  47,  52, 
53,  81,  466,  469. 

Edwin,  392. 


Rice,  Eliezer,  67,  loi,  iii,  138,  141. 

Elisha,  197. 

Gershom,  459. 

Henry  G.,  259,  315. 

Jacob,  34,  466,  469,  48 1. 

James,  34. 

Jesse,  233. 

John,  259,  315. 

Jonah,  466. 

Joseph,  34. 

Josiah,  107. 

Mary,  20. 

Nahor,  27,  41- 

Noah,  loi. 

Persis,  139. 

Samuel,  197. 

Seth,  469. 

Silas,  37,  38. 

Thomas,  19,  20,  23,  31,  27,  4°,  4^, 
47.  49,  50.  51.  52,  55.  462,  465, 
466,  469,  481 

Timothy,  37,  38,  39,  4S1. 

Zebulon,  144,  468. 
Richards,  Henry,  66. 

Henry  V.,  266,  315. 
Richardson,  Rev,  George  N.,  237. 
Rider,  Eleazer,  197. 
Rifle  Company,  Westborough,  250,  251, 

254. 
Roads,  334. 
Robbins,  Arthur  W.,  264,  266,  315. 

Chandler,  252,  316, 

Daniel,  196. 

E.  H.,  473. 
Robert  College,  451. 
Roberts,  Edward,  255,  316. 

John,  267,  316. 
Robin,  Joseph,  18. 
Robinson,  A.,  3S9. 

George  D.,  477,  478. 

James  F.,  25S,  264,  316. 

Jennie  J.,  376. 

J.H.,  471. 

Rev.  John,  201  ;  dismissed,  211-214  ; 
trial,  215-217,  335. 

John  T.,  264,  316. 

Samuel,  55,  466. 

Thomas  T.,  426. 
Rockwell,  Julius,  476. 
Rockwood,  Rev.  Elisha,  187,  214,   218, 
227,  233-237  ;  dismissed,  238  ;  335,  470. 
Rogers,  William  E.,  269,  316. 
Roman  Catholics,  232,  240,  333,  423-426. 
Ross,  Harvey  C,  252,  263,  316. 
Rowell,  Whittemore,  353. 
Royce  &  Co.,  H.  A.,  360. 


500 


INDEX. 


Ruggles,  Draper,  375. 

Isaac,  196,  467. 

Sanlord,  407. 
Russell,  Henry  S.,  403, 

Tliomas,  266,  317. 

William  E.,  478. 
Rutland,  103,  125. 

Sagamore,  John,  6. 
Sanborn,  Alfred  L.,  251,  317. 

Greenleaf,   C,  228,   248,   249,    271, 
332,  468. 

John,  467,  469. 
"      heirs  of,  370. 
Sanderson,  John  W.,  252,  262,  268,  317. 
Sandra,  Francis  H.,  261,  317. 

farm,  419. 

pond,  3,416,417,418,419. 

water,  3S7. 
Sanford,  Rev.  David,  203. 
Sanger,  John  VV.,  259,  317. 
Sanitary  Commission,  271,  272. 
Sargent,  John  G.,  264,  318. 

Moses  H.,  336. 
Sawyer,  J.  H.,  338. 
School   Association,    Westborough,    226, 

377- 
Schools,  act  of  1647,  96  ;  system,  97-100; 

districts,  194-198,  226,  373;    372-379; 

evening   school,    374 ;    appropriations, 

370,  375;  statistics,  375. 
Schouler,  General,  270. 
Scriptures,  first  read  in  church,  139. 
Searles,  George  B.,  252,  264,  318. 

George  W.,  264,  318. 
Seawall,  Henry,  458. 
Secession,  ordinance  of,  247. 
Sedgwick,  General,  411. 
Selectmen,   first   chosen,    49;     52,    107; 

list  of,  466-468. 
Settlers,  first  white,  13,  46-47;  54,  479. 
Sewall,  Samuel  E.,  475. 

diary  of  Judge,  52,  120. 
Shaker  hoods,  365. 
Shambeau,  Foster,  264,  318. 
Shattuck,  Mr.,  66. 
Shays's  Rebellion,  194. 
Sheaf,  The  Westborough,  229,  392. 
Sheehan,  Patrick  J.,  266,  318. 
Sheldon,  Rev.  Luther  H.,  238,  333,  336, 

379,  402. 
Shepherd,  Allen  G.,  402. 
Sheridan,  General,  263. 
Sherman,  Aaron,  196,  407. 

Asa,  407. 
«  Shoe,"  the,  463. 


Sherrin,  Father,  240. 
Shrewsbury,  18,  2°,  34,  42,  43,   100,  103, 
104,  144,  146,  191,  200,  202,  233,  250, 
255,  259,  353,  459,  460,  470,  479. 
Shute,  Samuel,  45,  65,  69. 
Sibley,  Prescott,  265,  318. 
William  H,,  251,  318. 
"      &  F.,  386. 
Sidewalks,  appropriation  for,  370 ;   con- 
crete, 334. 
Sinking  funds,  appropriation  for,  370. 
Sixth  Unattached  Company,  263. 
Slattery,  James,  252,  319. 

Thomas,  266,  319. 
Slavery,  in  colonies,  66  ;  246. 
Sleighs,  manufacture   of,  225,  356,  357, 

361-363. 
Slocum,  William  F  ^  449. 
Smalley,  George  N.,  365,  366,  410,.  416, 

451.. 
Smart,  Theodore  B.,  337,  364. 
Smith,  Albert  W.,  23S,  333. 
Charles  E.,  338,  389. 
George  L.,  33S,  366,  389,  447. 
Herbert  O.,  262,  268,  270,  319,  329. 
Timothy  A.,  249,  328,  370,  465. 
William  A.,  269,  327. 
Blown  &  Co.,  359. 
Block,  359. 
Snow,  A.  J.,  365. 
Elijah,  198. 
&  Hewins,  365. 
Societies,  405 ;  Thief-detecting,  405-406; 
Park   Association,   406 ;    Agricultural, 
406;  Grange,  No.  116,  P.  of  H.,  407; 
Young  Men's  Debating  Society,  407  ; 
Reform  Club,  408  ;   Welcome  Lodge, 
No.  150, 1.  O.  G.  T.,  409  ;  Hockomocko 
Lodge,  No.  79,  L  O.  O.  F.,  409  ;  Hocko- 
mocko Relief  Association,  409  ;  Laurel 
Degree  Lodge,  No.  44,  D.  of  H.,  409 ; 
Siloam  Lodge,  F.  &  A.  M.,  409-410; 
Bethany   Chapter,  No.    13,   O.   E.   S. 
410;  Division  No.  20,  A.  O.  H.,410; 
Village  Improvement  Society,  410;  In- 
surance Orders,  41 1 ;    John  .Sedgwick 
Post,  No.  21,  G.  A.  R.,  411;  A.  G. 
Biscoe  Post,  No.  80,  G.  A.  R.,  412; 
Woman's   Relief  Corps,  412  ;    F.  L. 
Stone  Encampment,  No.  76,  S.  of  V., 
412;  Labor  Organizations,  412  ;  Young 
Men's  Christian  Association,  412-413  ; 
Board  of  Trade,  413;  Historical  Soci- 
ety, 413- 
Soldiers'  Sewing  Society,  250,  251,  260, 
271-272. 


INDEX, 


501 


Sons  of  Veterans,  F.  L.  Stone  Encamp- 
ment, No.  76,  412. 
South  Carolina,  247. 

Southborough,  3,  14,  100  ;  incorporated, 
loi  ;  103.  146,  147,  203,  250,  255,  352, 
355.  396,  39S,  458,  47°- 
Southbridge,  368. 
Southington,  Conn.,  203. 
SouthviUe,  360,  457. 
Spaulding,  Hannah,  370. 
Spaulding's  Block,  333. 
Spencer,  -n,  38,  355,  36S,  390. 
Spring,  William,  163. 
Springfield,  23,  51,  104,  194. 
Squadrons,  195-198. 
Square,  the,  329,  333. 
Squier,  Silas  P.,  266,  319. 
St.  Luke's  Church,  240,  3S9,    423-426  , 

rectory,  240  ;  cemetery.  240. 
Stackpole,  Kev.  Stephen  H  ,  233. 
Stamp  Act,  the,  151-153,  192,  194. 
Staples,  Jeremiah,  266,  319. 

Samuel  O.,  258,  319.  337. 
Star  of  the  West,  steamer,  247. 
Starr,  William  E.,  230,  402. 
State  tax,  370. 
Steam-mill,  old,  358. 
Steeple  for  meeting-house,  155,  20S. 
Sterling,  100,  355. 
Stevens,  H.  H.,  393. 

William  H.,  267,  319. 
Stiles,  Rev.  Ezra,  180,  191. 
Stirrup    Brook,    19,     29,    30,    40,    47; 

meadow,  15. 
Stocks,  the  town,  56,  loi. 
Stone,  Abijah,  225,  384,  407,  467. 

Bela  J.,  190,  356. 

Edgar  V.,  269,  320. 

Frank  A.,  259,  320. 

Frank  L.,  252,  320,  412. 

Frank  S.,  269,  320. 

George  H.,  235,  259,  320, 

J.  Henry,  259,  320. 

John,  17. 

Jonas,  356,  359. 

Jonas  A.,  356,  385. 

Rev.  Nathan,  147. 

Silas  C,  375. 

Thomas,  359,  360,  444. 
Storms,  422. 

Stoughton,  William,  454. 
Straw,  Jack,  6-7,  462. 

hats,  manufacture  of,  357,  363-366; 

braids,  363. 
Straw-sewing  machine,  364,  367. 
Strong,  Caleb,  473. 


Sudbury,  12,  13,  22,  26,  Si,  125. 

Kiver,  3,  456. 
Sullivan,  Andrew,  266,  321. 

G.  W.,  33S. 

James,  473. 

James  H.,  255,  259,  270,  321,  329. 

Timothy  G.,  262,  268,  321. 
Sumner,  Increase,  473. 

Rev.  Joseph,  202. 
Sumter,  Fort,  247,  256. 
Sunday-school,  first,  21S,  238. 
Sunsets,  red,  422. 
Superintendents,  school,  373. 
Sutton,  101,  103,  231,  454,  479. 
Swan,  Henry  E  ,  402. 
Sweeney,  J.  Frank,  257,  321, 
Sweetzer,  Rev.  S.  B.,  239. 

Theodore  H.,  476. 
Swift,  Rev.  John,  81. 
Symmes,  Rev,  Thomas,  115 

Taft,  Annie  E.,  451. 

George  H.,  451. 

Henry    K.,   366,   426 ;    biographical 
sketch,  451. 

Solomon  J.,  255,  261,  321 
Tainter,  Simon,  465. 
Taintor,  David,  196. 

Simeon,  134,  136. 
Talbot,  Emily,  403. 

Thomas,  477. 

place,  the,  461. 
Talcott,  James  M.,  230,  402. 
Talmage,  De  Witt,  408. 
Tanneries,  356. 
Taplin,  John,  147. 
Tarbell,  Mr.,  39. 
Tarr,  Caleb,  269,  327. 
Tate,  Nahum,  1515. 

&  Brady's  Psalms,  155,  204. 
Tavern,  first,  219. 
Taxation,  370,  371. 
Taylor,  Fred  J.,  387. 
Temperance,  218,  229,  40S. 
Temple,  Richard,  163. 
Tennent,  Gilbert,  122. 
Tenney,  Eldad,  449. 

Sarah  E.,  449. 
Tewksbury,  Charles  B.,  413. 

George  M.,  248. 
Texas,  247. 

Thacher,  Rev.  Peter,  69,  82. 
Thanksgiving  Day,  184. 
Thaxter,  Samuel,  43,  45. 
Thayer,  A.  W.,  ■!,■]';. 

Rev.  F.  A.,  239. 


502 


INDEX. 


Thief-detecting  Society,  405-406. 
Thomas,  Isaiah,  191. 
Thomlin  (or  Tomblin),  Isaac,  34,  46,  47, 
49,  52,  81,  92,  466. 

Jr.,  Isaac,  81. 
Thomson,  Abbie  M.,  447. 
Thompson,  Charles  P.,  477. 
Thread  factory,  219,  356. 
Thurston,  Mr.,  351,  352. 

Charles  H.,  342,  393. 

Samuel,  163. 

Surviah,  139. 
Tidd,  Squire  S.,  264,  321. 
Tirrell,  Rev.  A.  \V.,  239. 
Tithmgman,  52,  136. 
Todd,  Rev.  W.  G.,  237,  330. 
Tookanowras,  38. 
Topography,  1-3. 
Town  clerks,  list  of,  46S. 

hall,  erected,  225  ;  250,  251,  375  ;  re- 
modelled, 332 ;  379. 

lines,  perambulated,  100. 

meeting,  first,  48 ;  second,  50  ;  third, 

52  ;  54- 

officers,  465-469. 

records,  56,  89,  145. 

treasurers,  52,  469. 
Townsend,  Benjamin,  46,  47. 

Joshua,  97. 

Nathan,  163,  169,  170. 
Transcript,   the  Westborough,  229,   391, 

393- 
Treadway,  Mr.,  18. 
Tresilian,  Thomas,  394. 
Tribune,  Westborough,  394. 
Tripp,  Willard  D.,  404. 
Trowbridge,  Alfred  L  ,  258,  264,  321. 

J.  A.,  251,368. 
Tucker,  Thomas,  223. 
Tufts,  Rev.  James,  451. 
Turner,  Melzar  G.,  251,  322,  337. 

Samuel  S.,  364,  367. 
Turnpike,  B.  &  W.,  218-219. 
Twitchel,  Thomas,  196. 

2d,  Thomas,  196. 
Tyler,  Sarah  A.,  438. 

John  E.,  438. 

Underwood,  Austin,  356. 
Union  Block,  333,  360,  393,  415. 

Building,  365. 

Hall,  237. 

Hose  Co.,  No.  i,  390. 

Publishing  Co.,  394. 
Unitarians,  223,  224,  234,  236-237. 
Universal  Disputant,  the,  40S. 


Universalist  Society,  the,  233. 

Upton,  144,  146,  201,  202,  250,  255,  353, 

364,  454,  479. 
Utrecht,  peace  of,  42. 
Uxbridge,  103,  146. 

Valley  Forge,  172. 

Varnum,  Joseph  B.,  474. 

Veritas  Redux,  73-80. 

Vicksburg,  Miss.,  260. 

Village  Improvement  Society,  334,  410. 

Virginia  Convention,  165. 

Waban,  455. 

Wachusett  Mountain,  2,  31,  85. 

Wadsworth,  Captain,  23. 

John,  467. 
VVahginnacut,  6,  462. 
Wales,  Rev.  Mr.,  203. 
Walker,  Cephas  N.,  257,  322. 

George  A.,  264,  265,  266,  322. 

Irving  E.,  267,  268,  270,  322,  329. 

Joseph,  357. 

Lyman  S.,  257,  322. 

Melvin  H.,  252,  263,  322,  338,  340, 
361,  403,413,448. 

Rev.  William  H.,  232,  379. 
Wallace,  Austin,  255,  323. 
Walley,  Jr.,  Samuel  H.,  399. 
Wamesit,  455. 
Wamesits,  the,  5. 
Wampanoags,  the,  4. 
Wampas,  Anne,  454. 

John,  454. 
War,     King     Phillip's,     21-28;    Queen 
Anne's,  36;  French  and  Indian,  146- 
T49;  Revolutionary,  150-153,  158-176; 
War  of,  1S12,  210  ;  Civil,  245-273. 
Ward,  Anna,  34. 

Artemas,  433. 

Increase,  34,  46,  47. 

Oliver,  460,  465,  466. 

Sarah,  433. 

Thomas,  46,  47,  52,  57,  69,  98,  102, 
465,  466. 

William,  44. 
Ware,  Beriah,  197. 

Charles  A.,  264,  323. 
Warner,  William  R.,  251,  323,  379. 

Mrs.  William  R.,  441. 

&  Brigham,  224. 
Warner's  Corner,  43. 
Warren,  Aaron,  197,  467. 

Abner,  467. 

Anson,  3S5,  3S7,  468. 

Asahel,  370. 


INDEX. 


503 


Warren,  Asaph,  465,  467,  468. 
Benjamin,  197. 
Daniel,  46,  47,  4S,  50,  52,  62,  97, 

101,  102,  104,  196,  465,  466. 
Jr.,  Daniel,  163. 
David,  III,  444. 
George  W.,  258,  264,  323. 
Harris  C,  262,  323. 
Horatio,  356. 
Jr.,  John,  467. 
Jonah,  138. 
Levi,  169,  170. 
Seleucas,  47. 
Stephen,  252,  324. 
Thaddeus,  147,  163,  197. 
Timothy,  138,  14;,  154,  196,  467. 
Washburn,  Rev.  Azel,  442. 
Emory,  476. 
Rev,  George,  451, 
Laura  A.,  442. 
William  B.,  477. 
Washington,  General,  164,  169,  212. 

(city),  260,  263,  265. 
Water  Cure,  378. 
Watertown,  22. 
Water-works,  415-420. 
Watkins,  Albert  B.,  378. 
Watts'  hymns,  155-156,  204. 
Webster,  Horace  F.,  471. 

(town),  36S. 
Weights  and  measures,  56. 
Welsh,  Father,  240. 
George  O.,  404. 
Weld,  Salem  T.,  255,  324. 
Wellesley  College,  377. 
Wells,  George  D.,  256. 
Wesson,  Silas,  219,  377,  3S0,  382,  395, 

467,  470. 
Wesson's  tavern,  48,  219,  226,  377,  395. 
Wessonville,  48,  219,  220,  356,  377. 

Seminary,  377. 
Westborough,  situation,  1 ;  topography, 
1-3,  31 ;  Indian  history  and  legend, 
4-11  ;  first  white  settlers,  11-14  ;  earli- 
est land-owners,  15-20;  King  Phillip's 
War,  21-28;  movements  toward  form- 
ing town,  29-35  >  Indian  troubles,  36- 
41;  incorporation.  42-45;  beginnings 
of  town  life,  45-59;  securing  a  minis- 
ter, 59-71  ;  church  organized,  72-74, 
81-S4 ;  town  records,  89 ;  church  affairs, 
90-95;  schools  established,  S7-100 ; 
new  county,  101-104;  beginning  of 
division,  107-112;  church  music,  112- 
117  ;  the  first  precinct,  131-146  ;  French 
and  Indian  War,  146-149;  beginnings 


of  Revolution,  149-153;  church  music, 
153-158;  in  the  Revolution,  158-176; 
church  government,  176-1  So;  old  school 
districts,  195-198 ;  pauper  question, 
198,  380-382  ;  second  minister,  198-204  ; 
church  usages,  204-206  ;  improvements, 
206-211,218-221;  ecclesiastical  trials, 
211-218;  business  development,  222- 
226  ;  library,  227,  379-3S0  ;  local  papers, 
22S-229,  391-394  ;  later  ecclesiastical  his- 
tory, 231-241  ;  the  Civil  War,  242-273  ; 
soldiers'  records,  273-327  ;  monument, 
328-331 ;  fires  and  new  buildings,  331- 
335,  423-427 ;  centennial  celebration, 
336-344  ;  statistics  of  population,  344- 
346;  agriculture,  346-355  ;  manufac- 
tures, 355-369;  occupations,  369; 
wealth,  369-371  ;  schools,  372-379 ; 
care  of  poor,  380-383 ;  fire  department, 
384-390 ;  banks,  397  ;  societies,  405- 
414;  water-works,  415-420;  phenom- 
ena, 420-423  ;  land  grants,  454-464  ; 
town  officers,  465-469  ;  representatives, 
470-471  ;  votes  for  governor,  472-478  ; 
Parkman's  history  of  Westborough, 
479-4S1. 
Weston,  Si,  85. 
Wheeler,  Aaron,  210. 
Elizabeth,  210. 
Henry  S.,  470. 
John  C,  261,  324. 

Joseph,  46,  47,  55,  81,  98,  102,  210, 
426,  465,  466. 
Wheelock,  Eleazer,  163,  164. 

Moses,  163,  164,  169,  191,   196,  201, 

437,  467.  468. 
Sarah,  437. 
Whipple,  Edward,  142. 

Francis,  111,  133,  152,  154,  465,  466, 

469,  470. 
Jonathan,  465,  466. 
Whipsufferadge  plantation,  14. 
Whipsuppenicke,  13. 
White,  Frederick,  367. 
George  K.,  367. 
James  W.,  398. 
Cycle  Co.,  367. 
Whitefield,  122,  123. 
Whitehall,  457. 
Whiting,  Rufus  W.,  352. 
Whitney,  Mrs.  Abbie,  370. 
Abbie  M.,  447. 
Alpheus,  447. 
Benjamin,  163. 

C,     366,    415,    426;     biographical 
sketch,   447. 


504 


INDEX. 


Whitney,  Eli,  192,  246,  355  ;  biographical 
sketch,  434. 

Eli  (not  inventor),  196,  467,  469. 

Elijah,  196,  464. 

Frank  C,  447. 

Nathaniel,  138,  466. 

Nellie  E.,  447. 

Rev.  Peter,  20,  39,  47,  190,  203. 

Sarah,  447. 

Thomas,  463. 

&  Co.,  C,  366. 

Annexation,  Elijah,  463. 

Hill,  Eli,  460. 

House,  the,  366,  426,  447. 

place,  the,  20,  30,  36,  203,  224. 
Whittemore,  Henry,  273,  376. 
Whood's  Mr.,  69. 
Wight,  Daniel,  19S. 
Wilderness,  267,  268. 
Willard,  Rev.  Mr.,  335. 
Williams,  Rev.  Mr.,  81,  85. 

Charles  H.,  252,  261,  324,  337. 

Samuel,  163. 
Williamsport,  Md  ,  253. 
Willow  Park,  395,  401. 

Seminary,  ;^y7,  378. 
Wilmarth,  Butler,  ^77. 
Willson,  Hubbard,  398,  426. 
Wilson,  Mrs.,  155. 

Henry,  475. 

farm,  the,  402. 
Winch,  Calvin  M.,  439. 
Winchester,  Mr.,  352. 

Fitch  H.,  471. 
Windham  County,  Consociation  of,  217. 
Winslow,  Charles  P.,  252,  253,  257,  263, 
264,  265,  324,  468. 

Ezra,  355. 
Winthrop,  Governor,  6,  7. 

Robert  C,  476. 
Wiswall,  Edward  H.,  404. 

Frederick  A.,  257,  324. 
Witherbee,  Daniel  T.,  265,  325. 


Witherby,  Harlan  F.,  262,  325. 

Joseph,  34. 

place,  the,  356,  358. 
Wolfe's  victory,  150. 

Wood,  Abijah,  257,  330,  366,  407,  467, 
470. 

Benjamin,  196,  202,  466,  469. 

Edwin  D.,  258,  325. 

Joseph,  233. 

Samuel,  466,  468,  471. 

Solomon,  136. 

William,  196. 

&  Co.,  R.  D.,  419. 
Wood  for  minister,  181. 
Woodman,  George  H.,  447. 

Nellie  E.,  447. 

Robert,  266,  325. 
Woods,  Benjamin,  52. 

Jesse,  382,  467. 

Seth,  198. 

William,  163,  164. 
Woodside,  Samuel,  259,  325. 
Woodstock,  103, 
Woodville,  232,  331,  334,  384. 
Worcester,  30, 66,  103,  104,  156,  191,  194, 
204,  227,  259,  331,  334,  355,  368, 
382. 

County,  incorporated,  103-104  ;  agri- 
cultural statistics,  354-355;  manu- 
facturmg  statistics,  36S. 

Mutual  Fire  Insurance  Co.,  438. 

Polytechnic  Institute,  377. 
Work-house,  the,  198. 
Wrentham,  66. 
Wriglit,  Joseph  W.,  269,  325. 

Yale  College,  iSo,  192,  203,  434. 
Yellow  day,  the,  1S4,  420. 
Young  America  Bucket  Co.,  386. 
Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  412- 

413- 
Debating  Society,  338,  339,  407-408. 

Yorktown,  184. 


im 


